The latest wholesale figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) once again highlight the boom in so-called New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in China.
The CAAM data includes domestic sales and exports, covering both passenger and commercial vehicles. ‘NEV’ is the Chinese umbrella term for purely electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. For cars, this almost always means battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), whereas hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCEVs) are generally only relevant for commercial vehicles alongside other electric vehicle types. The Chinese government now excludes hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs, i.e., without plug-in option) from its NEV designation.
NEVs have continued to see significant sales growth — up by 13.1 per cent compared to October 2025, reaching 1.94 million units. This figure combines domestic sales of 1.334 million units with exports: 606,000 plug-in vehicles were exported.
31.2 % of NEVs were exported
The 606,000 NEVs exported is an impressive figure: growth compared to the same month last year was 140 per cent. Even compared to the 571,000 units in September 2026, there was still an increase of 6.1 per cent. More importantly, this means that 31.2 per cent of all NEVs were exported last month.
The figures can also be broken down by BEV and PHEV: of the total 1.94 million NEVs produced in China, 1.353 million were battery-electric, and 587,000 were plug-in hybrids (with CAAM including range extenders in this category).
Here, too, the export share can be specified: BEV exports in October reached 374,000 units—an increase of around 130 per cent compared to the same period last year. PHEV exports reached 233,000 units, representing growth of approximately 160 per cent.
Export strength triggers political backlash
Given the export strength of Chinese manufacturers in the BEV and PHEV sectors, Europe has long been engaged in a political discussion about curbing imports from the country. Soon, a “Made in EU” rule from the European Commission is expected to allow restrictions on EV subsidy programmes for vehicles manufactured within the EU. Additionally, the EU will limit the import of Chinese hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles to 350,000 units per year starting 1 December 2026. The new regulation is set to more than halve imports of these vehicles from manufacturers such as BYD, Chery or MG Motor. Imports will be allowed to increase by up to six per cent annually.
Notably, according to CAAM sales figures, in October, only 1.076 million vehicles that do not meet the NEV definition were sold, meaning vehicles with internal combustion engines and no plug-in electric capacity, such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), or pure petrol or diesel models. Combined with the 1.94 million NEVs, this results in total sales of 3.016 million vehicles. In October, NEVs thus achieved a new record share of 64.3 per cent of total vehicle sales, up from 61.6 per cent in September. This marks the fourth consecutive month that plug-in vehicles have exceeded the 60 per cent threshold.
Incidentally, the CAAM data does not exclusively cover sales figures for Chinese manufacturers; these wholesale figures always refer to vehicles produced in China. This means, for example, that the electric vehicles Tesla produces at its Gigafactory in Shanghai are also included. Furthermore, CAAM does not publish individual sales figures by manufacturer; instead, manufacturers communicate their own sales data, such as BYD, which sold more than 300,000 all-electric vehicles for the first time in October.
