Chinese Automakers Slide as Weak September Sales, EU Hybrid Curbs Weigh

3-line summary

• Chinese automaker shares fell Tuesday — BYD down 2.8%, Great Wall Motor down 2.1%, NIO and XPeng each down more than 2%, Leapmotor down 1.5%, SAIC down 1.1%, Li Auto down 0.8% and Chery down 0.5%, while Geely rose 0.6% — as weak domestic sales and new EU import curbs on Chinese hybrids weighed on sentiment, according to Investing.com.
• China Passenger Car Association data showed September domestic passenger car sales fell 28.1% year-over-year to 1.63 million units, a 12th straight monthly decline and worse than August's 23.7% drop; domestic BEV/PHEV sales fell 16.7% to 1.08 million units. Exports rose 73.2% to 923,000 units, though growth slowed from August's 77.5%.
• The EU and China agreed to cap annual Chinese hybrid imports at 350,000 vehicles, likely effective from early December, running four years with 6% annual growth allowed. Reuters-cited estimates suggest China's EU hybrid exports could fall by nearly half from a projected 800,000 units in 2026, with Chinese brands' EU hybrid market share potentially dropping from 12% to about 6%; Jefferies data cited BYD, SAIC and Chery as accounting for over 90% of Chinese hybrid sales in the EU. China's H1 2026 hybrid exports to the EU tripled year-over-year to $7.5 billion.

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