Germany Oct. NEV Sales: Leapmotor Closes In on MG, Chinese Brand Rankings Shifting
nashnova research
Leapmotor registered 3,661 cars in Germany in October, closing to within 479 units of MG's 4,140; on a pure-EV basis Leapmotor has already overtaken MG, rewriting the real competitive map among Chinese brands in Germany.
Why did German EV sales suddenly surge?
Overall passenger-car registrations in October rose just 1.7% year-on-year, yet pure-EV registrations jumped nearly 80%, reaching 37% of all new cars.
This means → almost all the growth came from battery-electric vehicles; ICE and hybrid segments are shrinking.
The catalyst is a household subsidy launched in May: families meeting income thresholds can claim €3,000–6,000 per BEV, and with fuel prices still elevated, private purchases rose 20% year-on-year.
How did Leapmotor close the gap so fast?
Leapmotor's micro-EV T03 captured the subsidy wave directly — by October 1 it had 3,561 approved subsidy applications, versus just 2,132 for MG's entire lineup.
In plain terms = one Leapmotor model secured more subsidy slots than every MG vehicle combined.
Leapmotor also leveraged its partner Stellantis's dealer and service network. By September its top-registering model had shifted to the compact SUV B10 — of 1,077 units registered, 1,054 were pure-electric.
What is MG's lead actually built on?
Over the first ten months, MG still leads Leapmotor by roughly 12,000 cumulative registrations — but nearly all of that margin comes from hybrids.
MG's best-selling compact SUV, the ZS, logged about 8,000 units in Q1–Q3; more than 80% were conventional hybrid versions whose owners need no charger and cannot claim the BEV subsidy.
This means → MG's volume advantage rests on a product line that receives no policy tailwind; if the subsidy keeps tilting toward pure EVs, that advantage will thin steadily.
Has the pure-EV ranking already flipped?
On a BEV-only basis through Q3: Leapmotor registered 15,100 units, MG just 8,520 — a lead of nearly 7,000.
BYD registered 5,173 cars in October alone; its ten-month total even edges Tesla by 219 units. But plug-in hybrids account for the bulk — 26,400 of 42,800 in Q1–Q3 — and its pure-EV count leads Leapmotor by only 1,227.
In plain terms = BYD's headline volume is large, but it leans heavily on PHEVs; Leapmotor's volume is smaller yet almost entirely BEV, giving it a structurally healthier position in a market where subsidies reward pure electric.
Where is the next battleground?
The sub-€30,000 BEV segment is now a head-to-head arena: MG launched the MG4 EV Urban in April at a starting price of €24,990 and registered over 4,000 units by end-September; Leapmotor's comparable B05 opened orders a month later at €27,900.
Xpeng registered 8,403 units in Germany over the first ten months, already surpassing its April forecast of 8,000 for the full year.
This reflects a shift: competition among Chinese brands has moved from "who enters Germany first" to model-by-model battles within specific price bands — a far more dynamic picture than headline rankings suggest.
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