Chinese media on XPeng: one car in four abroad, and a new top three

Chinese media read XPeng's first 50,000-car month in two ways. XPeng delivered 13,326 cars outside China in October, more than a quarter of its total. And the press now names a new top three among newer Chinese carmakers by October deliveries: Leapmotor, XPeng and Xiaomi, in place of the familiar NIO, XPeng and Li Auto. XPeng is the only carmaker in both. The next test is growth in China, where the new MONA L05 reached its first owner only on the last day of October.

What Chinese media highlighted

XPeng published its October figures on Sunday 1 November, and by Monday China’s financial press and car sites had each picked an angle. Four reports show the range: a financial wire, a securities daily, a tech news site and a business-analysis outlet.

Outlet	Its angle on XPeng
MyDrivers	“One new car in four sold to foreigners!”
Securities Times	A new leading trio by October deliveries
Cailian Press	A new high, as the newer carmakers pull apart
Dingjiao One	The rise on a year earlier came from overseas

The first angle: one car in four

XPeng delivered 13,326 cars outside China in October, more than a quarter of its total. That was a record and 166% more than a year earlier, when about one car in eight was delivered abroad.

Dingjiao One, published on the business site Huxiu, went one step further. It worked out that overseas deliveries rose by about 8,300 cars, more than XPeng’s whole increase of 8,224. That leaves about 36,900 cars delivered in China, about level with October 2025.

The shift also matters for profit, as Dingjiao One noted. On XPeng’s results call in May, co-president Brian Gu said its car sales outside China are significantly more profitable than those in China, even with tariffs. He said that holds for gross profit, what a car earns after the cost of making it, and for net profit, what is left after all other costs.

The second angle: a new top three

For years, China’s press has grouped NIO, XPeng and Li Auto under one nickname, Wei-Xiao-Li, built from their Chinese names. This month the Securities Times headlined a new leading trio among newer Chinese carmakers, based on October deliveries: Leapmotor, XPeng and Xiaomi. MyDrivers wrote that the Wei-Xiao-Li era has given way to it. XPeng is the only carmaker in both groups.

Cailian Press reflected the same shift by discussing XPeng separately from NIO and Li Auto. Its headline shortened the old nickname to Wei-Li for those two, both under pressure, and named XPeng beside Leapmotor.

Leapmotor stayed far ahead with 106,127 cars, more than twice XPeng’s total. XPeng delivered 50,237 and Xiaomi more than 50,000, and MyDrivers noted that nobody can say which came second, because Xiaomi gives only a rounded figure. NIO delivered 34,246 and Li Auto 29,025, and both fell from a year earlier and from September.

On Monday, XPeng’s Hong Kong shares closed up 4.3% at HK$37.14, Xiaomi’s rose 6.1% and Leapmotor’s 2.4%. NIO’s fell 0.4% and Li Auto’s rose 0.4%, the same rise as the Hang Seng index.

The L03’s contribution and the L05’s first deliveries

The car behind October’s jump was the MONA L03. XPeng says it passed 20,000 deliveries in October, up from more than 14,000 in September, which makes it about 40% of the month’s total.

Some early reports also credited the new MONA L05 for part of the rise. In fact, its first owner collected a car only on 31 October, so the L05 has hardly begun to count.

Questions raised by the coverage

Deliveries so far this year are still behind. XPeng’s January–October total is 5.8% below last year’s, though that shortfall was 9.2% a month earlier.

MONA, XPeng’s lower-priced range, is carrying much of the volume. Dingjiao One estimates it made up close to 60% of October’s deliveries. MyDrivers said MONA earns less than XPeng’s main brand, while calling it a smart move.

Demand has to last. Dingjiao One asks whether orders for the new cars will hold up, and whether they will bring growth in China too.

What this means for XPeng

XPulse’s reading is that the warm coverage rests on solid ground. XPeng set its record in a shrinking market. The China Passenger Car Association, an industry association that tracks car sales, expected retail car sales in China to fall about 29% in October. It expected about 1.07 million electric and plug-in cars, against 1.28 million a year earlier. Its final count comes later this month. Against that forecast, holding level in China is a real strength, and the growth abroad came on top of it.

The next two months give a clear test. A top three built on one month has still to be proved, and November’s deliveries will show whether it holds. In China, the test is whether November’s deliveries rise above October’s roughly 36,900, now with the L05 in its first full month. Abroad, XPeng’s goal is more than 10,000 cars every month. XPeng delivered 50,237 cars in October. He Xiaopeng’s goal is 60,000 in a month this quarter.