EV Industry

CPCA data shows China's NEV retail sales at 753,000 for Oct. 1-25, down 13% year over year, while wholesale rose 3% to 1.008 million. Overall car retail fell 26%, keeping the NEV share at 65.7%, and inventory pressure is building.

Mercedes-Benz Japan launched the electric GLC on Oct. 28 from ¥9.13 million (about $57,800), with up to 642 km of WLTC range, CHAdeMO charging at up to 100 kW and subsidies of up to ¥1.68 million in Tokyo this year.

BYD's third-gen Qin Plus DM-i went on sale Oct. 27 with guide prices of 79,900 to 100,900 yuan (about $11,950 to $15,100), below dealer leaks, plus a 3,000-yuan limited-time cut that starts it at 76,900 yuan (about $11,510).

BYD's third-generation Qin Plus launches in China on Oct. 27 with a 2,800 mm wheelbase, optional roof LiDAR and up to 2,290 km combined PHEV range. Official MSRP is not out yet; dealer pre-order figures start around 85,000 yuan ($12,700).

Xpeng's robotaxi unit, Xpeng Yoyo, has won approval to run Level 4 trial operations across all of Guangzhou. Access still opens gradually by invite code. The GX-based car is vision-only with four Turing chips, and Xpeng wants to drop safety drivers in 2027.

BYD opened blind reservations for the second-gen Seal 07, a 5,080 mm sedan with flash charging and roof lidar, while Denza started taking reservations for a five-seat N8 SUV with up to 1,003 km of CLTC range. Neither has a price yet, and the third-gen Qin Plus launches Oct. 27.

Toyota, Honda and Nissan typically need four to five years for a new model, more than twice China's pace. Now Nissan wants a 2028 SUV in three years and a month, Suzuki aims for about two years by 2030, Honda's 'Triple Half' halves time, cost and workload, and Toyota is cutting parts.

As of August, about 61 million passenger cars in China had Level 2 driver assistance, and about 15 million of them had navigate-on-autopilot (NOA), China's CAICT said at the World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference. MIIT also floated new standards and a second batch of L3 pilots.

Japan's EV subsidy shrinks from January, Tesla Japan adds V2L, Toyota's Arene gets a guardrail, BYD's Seagull seats five, and NIO's Firefly goes 560 km. The week on EVX News in five stories and one number.

VW Anhui launched the ID. UNYX 09 on Oct. 24, a 5-meter electric fastback with Xpeng's Turing chip and VLA driver assistance, a 92-kWh CATL LFP pack and up to 755 km of CLTC range, priced from 179,900 yuan (about $26,900), or 169,900 yuan (about $25,400) in a Double 11 deal.