XPeng's largest quarter yet, 2% above last year

Inside the range, and a new high

In August XPeng told investors to expect 115,000 to 121,000 deliveries in the third quarter. It delivered 118,390, just above the middle of that range and more than in any earlier quarter: the previous high was 116,249, in the last quarter of 2025. Deliveries rose in every month of the quarter, from 38,027 in July to 41,256 in September, XPeng's third-highest month, behind only October 2025 (42,013) and September 2025 (41,581).

The gain on a year earlier was small. July and August were each about 4% above the same months of 2025, but September was 0.8% below, because it was set against one of the only two busier months. Over the quarter that leaves 2.1% more than a year earlier.

Cars delivered worldwide, from XPeng's monthly delivery releases, as on file on 1 Oct 2026. XPeng guided 115,000–121,000 for the quarter on 24 August 2026. Every month and quarter is on Deliveries.

Ahead of NIO and Li Auto, behind Leapmotor

Against NIO and Li Auto, the two carmakers closest to it in size and price, XPeng came out ahead in both September and the quarter. Its 118,390 for the quarter were more than NIO's 109,178 and Li Auto's 99,964, and its 41,256 in September more than their 37,408 and 31,817. It also grew fastest of the three compared with the previous quarter: 15%, against under 2% for each of the others. All three landed inside the ranges they had guided: NIO 108,000–111,000, Li Auto 95,000–100,000.

Cars delivered, including those sold outside China, as each company's own releases state them, as on file on 1 Oct 2026. Leapmotor gives half-years and its first quarter, so its second quarter is the first half less the first quarter.

On a year earlier the order reverses: XPeng's 2.1% against 7.2% for Li Auto and 25% for NIO. The difference lies largely in the starting point. XPeng's third quarter of 2025 was itself a record, 116,007, in the year its deliveries more than doubled; NIO's was 87,071.

Leapmotor works on another scale: 310,052 cars in the quarter, 78% more than a year earlier, and more than 27,000 exported in September alone. In the second quarter its revenue per car delivered, counting all revenue and not only car sales, was about RMB111,000, against RMB191,000 to RMB299,000 for the other three (XPulse's arithmetic on their results).

All four counts include cars sold outside China. At home the market shrank: the passenger-car association CPCA's early count put retail sales of new-energy passenger cars in the first 27 days of September 20% below a year earlier.

How deliveries have grown

XPeng's yearly deliveries rose from 98,155 in 2021 to 190,068 in 2024, and then more than doubled in 2025, to 429,445. The step came within a few months: 46,533 cars in the third quarter of 2024, 91,507 in the fourth, and more than 90,000 in every quarter of 2025.

Then the run broke. In the last quarter of 2025 XPeng fell short of its guidance for the only time in the ten quarters with guidance on file, and in the first quarter of 2026 deliveries dropped to 62,682, the fewest since the third quarter of 2024. They have recovered since: 103,295 in the second quarter and 118,390 in the third, both inside the range XPeng gave.

Cars delivered worldwide and the range XPeng guided for each quarter at the results before it, as on file on 1 Oct 2026: results releases, and for the latest quarter its three monthly releases. 2024's comparisons are blank because XPulse's quarterly record begins that year. Every quarter is on Deliveries.

That first-quarter fall is why the year still trails 2025 even after a record quarter. From January to September XPeng delivered 284,367 cars, 9.2% fewer than in the same months of 2025.

Two new models carried September

XPeng's Chinese release names two models. The MONA L03, which went on sale in China on 16 July, delivered more than 14,000 in September, XPeng said the next day; the GX, launched in May, delivered 7,224, its third month above 7,000. Together they were more than half of September's deliveries (XPulse's arithmetic). The G9L flagship began deliveries on 22 September; XPeng gave no figure for it.

XPeng has pointed to supply rather than demand. Its MONA research head, Jiang Wen, said chip supply, disrupted by demand from AI, held back L03 output in August before the line moved to two shifts (reported by IT之家 on 31 August).

Abroad

XPeng says the L03 is now on sale in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia and other markets, with deliveries starting market by market. On its 24 August call XPeng said it expects more than 40,000 overseas deliveries a quarter once they are under way in the fourth quarter, against more than 20,000 in the second. The September release gives no overseas figure.

XPulse's own estimate of deliveries outside China — worldwide deliveries less XPeng's sales in China as the passenger-car association CPCA counts them — waits for China's September figure, due in mid-October. Through August it was 96% above a year earlier, while sales in China were 21% lower.

What the fourth quarter has to show

He Xiaopeng has set XPeng the challenge of a single month above 60,000 in the fourth quarter, about 45% more than September. The last quarter of 2025 brought 116,249, so repeating the third quarter would keep XPeng only just ahead of a year earlier.

The quarter is the first full one with both the L03 and the G9L, and the MONA L05 is due in it. The G9L makes its European debut at the Paris Motor Show on 12 October. October's deliveries come on 1 November, and XPeng gives its fourth-quarter guidance with the third-quarter results later that month.

Updated 1 Oct 2026: later the same day XPeng's official X account said that overseas deliveries passed 10,000 in a month for the first time in September. It gave no exact figure, and neither its Chinese nor its English release mentions one; XPulse's own estimate follows with China's September figure.

Updated 2 Oct 2026: XPeng's official Weibo said that the MONA L03 delivered more than 14,000 in September; its release of 1 October had said more than 10,000. The L03 figure and its combined share with the GX above now use it.