Chinese demand for new-energy vehicles held up unevenly through the middle of June, according to Deutsche Bank’s latest weekly order tracker.
New orders climbed at most major brands and slid at a handful over the week of June 15 to 21, the bank reported — as carmakers rush into the end of the second quarter.
Analysts Wang Bin and Wei Huang framed weekly new orders as a “demand leading indicator” for the sector in a note dated Tuesday.
Nine major brands feature in the monitor. June’s global deliveries will be reported next week, on July 1st.
What the Monitor Tracks
Deutsche Bank’s China NEV Weekly New Orders Monitor counts new passenger-vehicle orders each week, rather than deliveries.
Orders sit earlier in the funnel than the insurance registrations behind China’s monthly sales tallies, capturing intent before a car is built or handed over.
Such early signals lead deliveries by weeks, giving a read on demand ahead of official figures.
That timing sets the series apart from the audited monthly deliveries that automakers and the China Passenger Car Association report.
Brands count orders in different ways, and the tallies are not audited, so the levels work best as a directional guide rather than a precise count.
Tuesday’s note landed in the same early-week slot once used for China’s contested self-published weekly sales lists, which an industry body urged automakers to halt in 2025.
The halt has left brokerage trackers such as this one as a main source of high-frequency demand data.
Orders Split Across the Group
Across the two weeks from June 8 to 21, the nine tracked brands drew roughly 360,000 new orders combined.
Most rose week-on-week in the latest read, leaving Geely, Nio, Tesla, and the Huawei-led HIMA alliance as the main exceptions.
BYD alone accounted for more than 40% of the group’s two-week total, a scale no rival approached.
BYD Extends Its Lead
Leading every competitor by a wide margin, BYD drew about 152,500 new orders across the two June weeks, including 106,800 in the latest one.
That weekly total more than doubled from 45,700 a week earlier and rose 34% from the same week of 2025.
Such a swing points to a burst of order-taking rather than a steady run rate.
China’s largest maker of new-energy vehicles spans battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models, from the sub-60,000-yuan Seagull hatchback to the Yangwang luxury range above 1 million yuan.
Higher up the range, BYD will launch its Ocean-series Seal 08 flagship sedan on July 2, with a Sealion 08 SUV to follow, both carrying its second-generation Blade battery and flash charging.
Geely Holds Second Place
Geely ranked second, with about 51,100 new orders over the fortnight and 24,200 in the latest week.
That weekly figure slipped 10% from 26,900 seven days earlier, while Deutsche Bank gave no year-earlier comparison.
Zeekr and Galaxy span premium and mass-market models, handing Geely one of the broadest NEV ranges after BYD.
Premium demand has centered on Zeekr models such as the 9X SUV, while Galaxy chases volume at lower prices.
Nio Posts the Sharpest Annual Gain
Nio drew 14,500 new orders in the latest week and 34,000 across the two June weeks.
The weekly figure jumped 195% from 4,900 a year earlier, the steepest annual gain in the group, even as it fell 26% from 19,500 the prior week.
A low base flattered that comparison, since orders a year ago sat near a cyclical trough.
Deliveries of the ES9 flagship SUV began June 1, broadening a lineup whose May volume was led by the third-generation ES8.
May deliveries reached 37,705 vehicles, the group’s highest monthly total of 2026.
Second-quarter guidance of 110,000 to 115,000 vehicles, issued with first-quarter results, leaves between 42,939 and 47,939 deliveries still to come in June.
That target would require a sequential gain of roughly 14% to 27% over May.
Leapmotor and Xiaomi Climb Week-on-Week
Leapmotor drew 14,100 new orders in the latest week, up 22%, and about 25,700 across the fortnight.
Pre-sales for the D99 flagship MPV opened Thursday, ahead of a July market launch.
The model is Leapmotor‘s first multi-purpose vehicle and its move into the premium 300,000-yuan segment, offered in extended-range and battery-electric versions.
That push follows record deliveries of 81,569 vehicles in May, a run built on cheaper models such as the A10 SUV and the April debut of the D19 large SUV.
Xiaomi posted the fastest weekly gain in the group, with orders up 44% to 7,200 and about 12,200 over the two weeks.
Its two-week haul also rose 80% from a year earlier, though the totals stayed among the lowest in absolute terms.
Deliveries tell a cooler story, with the YU7 SUV’s monthly volumes sliding for five straight months.
A cheaper YU7 standard variant arrived in May, helping Xiaomi still ship more than 30,000 vehicles that month.
Since then the company has added a high-performance YU7 GT and is preparing its first extended-range SUVs.
Tesla and XPeng Hold Steady
Tesla logged 12,600 new orders in the latest week, down 4%, and about 25,700 across the fortnight, up 5% on the year.
Sales in China still rest on the Model 3 and the Model Y, Tesla‘s only models there.
XPeng drew 9,000 orders, an 8% weekly gain that left it 2% above a year earlier and near 17,300 over the two weeks.
Order flow has leaned on the GX flagship SUV, which Deutsche Bank tied to about 50,000 new orders in May.
A second prong arrives in July, when XPeng debuts the Mona L03, the sub-brand’s first SUV and its first dual-powertrain model.
Both names sat in the middle of the table, neither surging nor sliding sharply.
Li Auto and AITO Slip Year-on-Year
Li Auto sat at the bottom of the table, with 5,900 new orders in the latest week and about 11,400 over the fortnight.
The weekly figure edged up 8% but fell 34% from a year earlier, one of only two annual declines in the group.
Weak orders mirror deliveries, which dropped 18% in May during a transition of the L-series lineup.
A revamped L9 arrived in May, a five-seat L8 is rolling out in late June, and a pure-electric i9 flagship is due in the second half.
Volume is leaning on the i6 electric SUV through the changeover.
HIMA, the Huawei-led alliance whose orders come mainly from AITO, drew 11,700 in the latest week.
That total dropped 36% from the prior week, the steepest weekly decline in the group, while rising 30% on the year.
Co-developed with Huawei, the alliance’s SUVs run from the M7 to the larger M9.
Chinese Brands Also Gain Ground in Europe
Order momentum at home has a parallel abroad, where Chinese-owned carmakers keep taking European share.
BYD, MG-owner SAIC, Chery, Leapmotor, and Geely Group all gained ground over the first five months of 2026, EVreported this week.
Combined, the five groups registered 619,353 cars across the EU, EFTA, and the UK between January and May, about 10.6% of the market, by EV‘s calculation from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association’s (ACEA) per-manufacturer data.
SAIC led the Chinese groups with 141,490 registrations, ahead of BYD at 135,307 and Chery at 122,843.
Each of the three outsold Tesla, which registered 118,068 units with a fully electric lineup at a higher average price, reversing the order from a year earlier.
The tally counts Chinese ownership rather than badge, so Geely Group enters mainly through Volvo, Polestar, and other marques it owns rather than China-branded models.
One caveat tempers the comparison, since ACEA bundles every fuel type, leaving the totals a mix of battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, and, for some brands, petrol cars.
How the Weekly Reads Feed Forecasts
Deutsche Bank uses the weekly order data to shape its monthly delivery estimates for Tesla and the major Chinese brands.
The bank has published its own monthly delivery projections drawn from such tracking.
Official confirmation lands next week.
Most Chinese automakers report June deliveries on the first day of July, and the China Passenger Car Association follows with wholesale and retail totals, then a model-by-model breakdown some days later.umbers will show whether BYD‘s surge held or faded into the quarter-end.
