Chery Group sold 295,934 vehicles in October as exports hit 200,618

Chery Group sold 295,934 vehicles in October, up 5.25% year-on-year, while monthly exports exceeded 200,000 units for the third time this year. The company, which announced the figures on Sunday, also posted a record month for new energy vehicles (NEVs, the Chinese regulatory category covering battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen vehicles).

Group sales for the first ten months of the year reached 2,502,723 vehicles, up 9.34% year-on-year.

What drove the October growth?

NEVs supplied most of the momentum. Chery Group sold 140,893 NEVs in October, up 27.7% year-on-year and above the 100,000-unit mark for the seventh consecutive month. Over the first ten months, group NEV sales reached 999,417 units, up 43.2% year-on-year — a figure that has already surpassed the full-year total for 2023.

Exports carried an even larger share of the business. The group shipped 200,618 vehicles overseas in October, up 58.67% year-on-year, which represents about 68% of total monthly sales. For the first ten months, exports totaled 1,751,766 vehicles, up 64.8%, accounting for roughly 70% of total volume. Chery is now, in effect, an exporter first and a domestic seller second.

How fast is the European expansion moving?

Chery said it sold 292,000 vehicles across 24 European countries in the first three quarters, up 182% year-on-year. More than 146,000 of those were NEVs, up 251%.

The company is also widening its manufacturing and brand footprint beyond Europe:

• Bloomberg reported on October 23 that Chery is considering local production in Canada, with sales there planned to begin in 2027.
• The iCar brand plans to enter the UK under the overseas name iCaur, with sales of its first model, the V27, expected to start in early 2027.

Both items are announced intentions rather than confirmed production plans, and no plant site or investment figure for Canada has been disclosed.

What do the listed-company numbers show?

Hong Kong-listed Chery Auto (HKEX: 9973), reported separately from the group, sold 282,458 vehicles across its five brands in October, up 7.21% year-on-year and 1.99% month-on-month. That was its highest monthly total this year, and its eighth consecutive month of year-on-year growth, according to data compiled by CnEVPost. First-ten-month sales reached 2,359,349 vehicles, up 10.13%.

The listed company sold 132,023 NEVs in October, up 28.17% year-on-year, equal to 46.74% of its total sales. It exported 194,674 vehicles, up 61.53% year-on-year but down 3.11% month-on-month. Domestic sales told a weaker story: 87,784 vehicles, down 38.59% year-on-year, though up 15.47% from September.

Which brands grew and which fell?

Among the five brands, only the namesake Chery brand grew year-on-year in October, offsetting declines at the other four:

• Chery: 200,571 vehicles, up 18.19% year-on-year and 0.95% month-on-month.
• Jetour: 58,443 vehicles, down 1.07% year-on-year, up 1.65% month-on-month.
• Exeed: 5,637 vehicles, down 40.63% year-on-year, up 14.92% month-on-month.
• iCar: 11,717 vehicles, down 5.45% year-on-year, up 7.91% month-on-month.
• Luxeed: 6,090 vehicles, down 52.46% year-on-year for its second consecutive monthly decline, though up 21.61% month-on-month. Luxeed's ten-month total stands at 49,713 vehicles, down 29.57%.

The pattern is stark: the volume brand and the export machine are carrying the group, while the premium and youth-focused marques shrink at home.

What to watch next

Watch whether group NEV sales cross the one-million-unit threshold for the first ten months' annualized pace to hold into November, whether Canada's production intention hardens into a confirmed site and investment, and whether iCaur's early-2027 UK launch date survives contact with European type-approval and tariff negotiations.