Global EV Sales Report — Tiny Wuling Mini Beats Tesla Model Y!!!
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José Pontes
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Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. There were over 1.9 million plugin vehicles registered in October, with BEVs (+19% YoY) rising and PHEVs (-5% YoY) falling.
Despite the expected hangover in the US market, down almost 50% YoY in October, global plugin vehicle registrations were up 10% compared to October 2024.
With the USA market in hangover mode and China slowing down (up only 7% YoY, due to the fall from grace of PHEVs, which were down a worrying 11% YoY there), it was up to Europe (+38% YoY) and the Rest of the World (+35% YoY) to pick up the pace, with the highlights being markets like Vietnam (+117% this year), India (+98%), Indonesia (+101%), and Turkiye (+157%), without forgetting, of course, what is going on in Latin America….
There were over 1.9 million registrations. BEVs grew 19% YoY to 1.3 million units, while plugin hybrids were dragged down by the Chinese market and ended the month falling by 5%, to around 600,000 units.
If we were to exclude the Chinese market from the PHEV tally, the technology would have actually grown in October, by 19% YoY.
This means that, while we might be witnessing the first days of peak PHEV sales in China, plugin hybrids still have a lot of room to grow in the rest of the world.
In the end, BEVs represented 19% share of the overall auto market (or 28% if we add PHEVs to the tally), pulling the YTD numbers to 17% BEV share (26% PHEV+BEV).
20 Best Selling EV Models in the World in October — Tesla Model Y loses the #1 spot to the Wuling Mini EV, Tesla Model 3 ends in #14
Regarding October’s best sellers, the big news is that Tesla suffered from the hangover on the US market, with the Model Y (53,320 units, down 37% YoY) losing the best seller title to the tiny Wuling Mini EV, while the Model 3 (19,961 units, down 25% YoY) was only 14th in what was its worst performance since July 2022. Expect both models to continue in the red for the next couple of quarters globally.
Looking at the rest of the competition, besides the aforementioned win by the Wuling Mini EV (61,515 units, a new record), this time the bronze medal went to the Geely Xingyuan, which scored over 44,000 registrations.
Off the podium, we get the usual BYD Armada, with seven representatives between 4th and 11th. The only outsider between them was the Xiaomi YU7, with the production ramp-up already allowing it to be 7th with over 33,000 registrations. How high will it be? Place your bets.
In the second half of the table, we have a few new models and a return. Starting with the return, the Leapmotor C10 joined the table at #15, thanks to a record 19,044 registrations. Export markets provided an extra bit of volume, with the biggest surprises being Israel (300 units) and Poland (250).
The first newcomer comes from the BYD premium brand Fang Cheng Bao, which placed its new Tai 7 SUV in 13th with a surprising 20,000 registrations. And that’s in only its second month on the market. SAIC’s Wuling also placed its new Bingo S, a BYD Dolphin fighter, in 18th, thanks to 17,248 registrations. All the while, AITO placed the new-generation M7 in 20th, not that far from another full-size SUV, the M8, which ended October in 17th.
Just to give an idea, AITO has three full size SUVs in its lineup, all more than 5 meters (200 inches) long…. ??
Off the table, the highlights are the continued ramp-up of the Deepal S05, with the compact crossover now reaching 12,591 units; and NIO’s mainstream brand Onvo scoring 11,722 deliveries of its new L90 large SUV, whose production ramp-up apparently continues.
Finally, a reference goes out to the Arcfox T1, a compact hatchback made by BAIC’s EV-focussed brand Arcfox. This is a welcome success for an OEM that has been away from the top spots for years now. Historically, BAIC has two model silver medals (the EC-Series in 2018 and EU-Series in 2019), and three brand medals, one silver in 2017 and two bronze in 2018 and 2019. So, that’s a decent trophy room. It is an OEM with history in the EV world.
Top 20 EV Models YTD — Geely Xingyuan Climbs gets closer to the Model 3’s Bronze Medal
In the year-to-date (YTD) table, the Tesla Model Y and BYD Song held their positions and should end the year in their usual spots, 1st and 2nd.
Below them, it seems that the #3 Tesla Model 3 has enough distance to defend itself from the #4 Geely Xingyuan in the next couple of months. Sure, the Model 3’s sales in the remaining months of 2025 will be painted in red, but the 25,000 units of advantage should be enough to keep the small hatchback at bay.
For 2026, though, expect the little Geely to surpass the veteran sedan, especially considering that the hatchback’s volume exports will start next year, adding critical volume to its sales. With the BYD Song (34,529 units in October, down 54% YoY) on its way to that big charging station in the sky, the Wuling Mini EV and BYD Seagull will probably compete with the Geely Xingyuan for the last two podium positions, with the Tesla Model 3 probably out of the race. The Xiaomi YU7 could show up as a possible dark horse in the race.
The first position change on this chart saw the BYD Seal 06 switch positions with its stablemate, the BYD Yuan Plus, allowing the sedan to climb into the 11th position.
The remaining position change was the Changan Lumin jumping from #17 to #15. The cute hatchback could possibly climb another position by the end of this year, as the #16 Xpeng M03 is fewer than 300 units away.
Top Selling Brands & OEMs — Chinese records edition
In October, BYD remained at the helm, but sales were down YoY, as BYD’s plugin hybrid sales continued to decline. Have we reached peak BYD?
Time will tell, but I believe in the long run, no single OEM will have more than 10% market share. Currently, BYD still has twice that much….
On the podium, we have a surprise — for the first time ever, we have a 100% Chinese podium. Which also means that for the first time in years (I believe the last time was in 2017), Tesla was left off of the podium.
Yep. Tesla had some 76,000 deliveries in October, down 36% YoY, making this its worst month since July 2022. Sure, it will rebound, but I believe it will take at least a couple of quarters for it to return to something resembling growth, no matter how meek that will be.
Although on smaller scale, legacy OEMs also felt the bitter taste of the US market hangover. On the other hand … Chinese makes had an amazing month, with export markets providing the growth that many of them lack in their domestic market.
As such, we had seven (7!) Chinese makes beating their previous record best in October!
Starting the list on the podium, #2 Geely scored 127,000 registrations, while #3 Wuling had 102,000 registrations, its first six-digit monthly performance. Below these, #5 Leapmotor had a record 70,000 registrations, only 5,000 units behind the once almighty Tesla, #7 Xiaomi (49,000 units) continues to ramp up production, and #10 Xpeng (42,000 units) is also on the rise as it tries to ramp up deliveries as fast as Leapmotor.
In the second half of the table, #12 Deepal (37,000) is also profiting from exports, while #14 Fang Cheng Bao has struck gold with its Tai 7 SUV, so for the moment it doesn’t need to expand into overseas markets to reach record levels. The same is not true for #15 Chery. Thanks to its affordable PHEVs, Chery is gaining ground in export markets, with the most surprise of them being Israel, where the Chinese make delivered some 1,500 units in October alone!
Outside the top 20, we should highlight three brands that hit record results. Starting with Volkswagen Group–owned Skoda, thanks to the success of its BEV crossovers, it had over 22,738 deliveries. Another crossover-friendly brand is Vinfast, with the Vietnamese make reaching record highs — in this case, 20,666 units, the first time it went north of the 20,000 mark. Also, BAIC’s Arcfox sales are surging thanks to the success of its new T1 hatchback, with the brand reaching 24,000 units in October.
A final mention goes out to Renault. With the French brand benefitting from the record month of the Renault 5, it got close to the 20,000 unit threshold in October (19,980 registrations). That is its best score since December 2020, a time when the Renault Zoe was in its glory days, with the predecessor of the 5 hatchback inclusively winning the bronze medal that year. That was Renault’s first and only medal in the EV game (and France’s only medal…).
In the YTD table, there wasn’t much to report at the top. BYD is well ahead of everyone else, despite the current slowdown, while #2 Tesla has a significant advantage over #3 Geely. Similarly, Geely has a significant advantage over #4 Wuling.
This time, there were a few changes in the table, all below #5 Volkswagen. Leapmotor surpassed BMW and is now the new 6th placed brand, and it might even have a shot at surpassing Volkswagen by the end of the year….
Not to be outdone, Mercedes was also surpassed by Chinese OEMs, only in this case it wasn’t just one but two Chinese startups, with #10 AITO and #11 Xiaomi surpassing the storied make.
If in the case of BMW, it doesn’t sound alarming being surpassed by Leapmotor. After all, the Chinese startup plays in a different end of the market. For Mercedes, though, to be surpassed by both AITO and Xiaomi does makes you wonder….
Finally, Volvo climbed one position, to #17, allowing the Swedish make to continue afloat among the top 20 EV brands.
Looking at registrations by OEM, #1 BYD continues to slide, falling 0.1% share in October to 22.2%, but it is still quite comfortably in the lead. It has an advantage of 11.4% market share over #2 Geely, now at 10.8%, up from 10.7% in September.
Although 2026 should be too soon for Geely to challenge BYD’s domination of the EV market, if current market dynamics continue running as they have, 2027 could be the year that Geely will be strong enough to go against BYD in the race to be the Best Selling OEM. And competition is welcome….
In Tesla-land, the US make suffered from a horror month, with its share falling to 7.8%. That’s a steep fall of 0.5% in just one month. On top of that, 7.8% is a significant 2.7 percentage point drop YoY. So, the sales problem continues, with the Texan OEM ending October in 6th, between #5 Changan and #7 Chery, China’s 4th and 5th best selling OEMs….
This is almost the opposite of Geely, which went up from 8% share in October 2025 to its current 10.8% share.
Below the podium, #4 Volkswagen Group (-0.1% to 7%) is feeling the heat from rising #5 SAIC (6.8%, up 0.2%) — which, thanks to positive performances from Wuling and MG, is pressuring the German OEM in the race for the 4th position.
Changan (4.5%) is stable in 6th, as it is too far from the top 5 but #7 Chery (3.6%, up 0.1%) is also too far behind to pose any kind of threat.
Looking into 2026, while the top two positions should remain the same, Tesla is expected to fall further, probably being surpassed by both SAIC and Volkswagen Group, as these two are expected to continue growing while Tesla … isn’t. If Tesla stabilizes at 1.6 million units in 2026, it should already be considered a good year.
Looking just at BEVs …
While BYD (16.8%, up from 16.7% in September) is stable in its leadership position, Tesla (11.8%, down a whopping 0.8% compared to September) managed to keep #3 Geely (10.7%, down 0.1%) at bay, so it should win the silver medal this year.
Next year? Bronze medal. 2027? No medal at all.
Comparing Geely and Tesla now to where they were a year ago, the contrast is stark. In October 2024, Tesla was the leader, with 16.7% share, while #3 Geely had only 8.2% share….
In 4th, SAIC (8%, up from 7.6% in September) increased its distance over #5 Volkswagen Group (7.3%, down from 7.5% in the previous month) and should have secured the 4th position again in 2025.
In the C-League, #6 Hyundai–Kia (3.8%, down 0.1%) suffered from the US sales hangover, but still has enough distance over #7 Changan and #8 BMW Group, both with 3.4% share, to enjoy the 6th position in 2025.
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