The top 15 automakers sold a combined 1.65 million NEVs, accounting for 96.5% of the total NEV market. Data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) show that China’s auto production and sales reached 1.672 million units and 1.805 million units respectively in February 2026, down 20.5% and 15.2% year-on-year. On a cumulative basis, China’s auto production and sales totaled 4.122 million units and 4.152 million units in January–February, down 9.5% and 8.8% YoY respectively. China’s auto sales from 2017 to Feb 2026 From a market structure perspective, Chinese brands continued to dominate the passenger car segment. In February, Chinese-brand passenger car sales reached 1.078 million units, down 15.9% YoY, with a market share of 70.2%, slightly lower by 0.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year. New energy vehicles remain the core driver of structural changes in the industry. In February, NEV production and sales reached 694,000 units and 765,000 units respectively, down 21.8% and 14.2% YoY, but still accounting for 42.4% of the overall auto market. On a cumulative basis, NEV production and sales totaled 1.735 million units and 1.71 million units respectively in the first two months of the year, representing declines of 8.8% and 6.9% YoY. In terms of industry structure, market concentration in the NEV sector continued to increase. NEV sales of top 15 companies for Feb 2026 and Jany-Feb 2026 The top 15 automakers sold a combined 1.65 million NEVs, accounting for 96.5% of the total NEV market. BYD, Geely, SAIC Motor, Tesla and Dongfeng Motor ranked among the top five by sales. Exports have become another key growth engine. China exported 672,000 vehicles in February, down 1.4% month-on-month but up 52.4% YoY. Among them, NEV exports reached 282,000 units, representing YoY growth of 1.1 times. From a structural perspective, pure electric vehicles remained the main export driver. Exports of BEVs reached 174,000 units in February, up 1.2 times YoY, while PHEVs totaled 107,000 units, up 1.1 times. Among exporting companies, domestic brands performed strongly. Chery exported 124,000 vehicles in February, accounting for 18.9% of total exports and remaining among the leading exporters. Vehicle export volumes of top 10 companies for Feb 2026 and Jany-Feb 2026 In comparison, Tesla recorded the fastest growth rate, exporting about 20,000 vehicles in February, up 4.2 times YoY. The CAAM said the February slowdown was largely due to the later timing of the Lunar New Year holiday and fewer effective working days. Policy transitions, earlier demand releases and a relatively high base in the same period last year also contributed to YoY declines in passenger car and NEV sales. However, despite the slowdown in overall domestic demand, vehicle exports continued to grow rapidly and remained a key support for the industry.