The robotic arms on the Seres factory production line process the car body shell. (Photo/Seres)
Chongqing - On February 2, Seres announced its new energy vehicle (NEV) sales for January 2026, reporting a total of 43,034 units sold, marking a year-on-year growth of 140.33% and setting a record for the highest January sales since 2024.
Headquartered in Chongqing, Seres has rapidly gained prominence in China’s NEV market thanks to its collaboration with Huawei. This strong sales performance further consolidates its market position in the industry.
Looking back at the past three years, Seres entered a phase of explosive growth in 2024. In January 2024, its NEV sales reached 36,838 units, an increase of 654.10%. The key driver behind this growth was the successful launch of the AITO M9 model, which quickly became popular in the Chinese automotive market.
To date, M9’s market popularity continues to rise, with the M9 becoming the best-selling luxury vehicle in the 500,000 RMB segment in 2025. Cumulative deliveries have surpassed 260,000 units.
However, Seres faced a temporary market slowdown in early 2025. In January 2025, its NEV sales dropped to 17,906 units, a year-on-year decline of 51.39%. Analysts from Guolian Minsheng Securities attributed this slowdown to a model transition period, where consumers, anticipating the release of new models, delayed their purchases, impacting the sales performance.
In 2026, Seres made a strong comeback, supported by both product and market factors. On the product side, the continued strong sales of the AITO series models became the core engine for growth.
According to official data, in January 2026, the AITO series sold 40,012 units, a year-on-year increase of 143.5%, accounting for 93% of Seres' total NEV sales for the month, making it the main pillar of the company's sales.
On the market side, with the adjustment of China’s trade-in policy for vehicles in 2026, the Chinese automotive market entered a period of high-end consumption in mainstream price ranges, providing a favorable market environment for Seres' growth.
The AITO models, jointly developed with Huawei, cover the 200,000-yuan (28,774 U.S. dollars) to 600,000-yuan price range and target the high-end vehicle market.
The trade-in policy continues into 2026, but there have been changes to its implementation. In 2025, replacement subsidies were capped by the authorities, and local regions were tasked with establishing specific implementation details. In 2026, a national unified standard will be introduced, where the subsidy is linked to the car's price, with NEVs receiving 8% of their price as a subsidy, capped at 15,000 yuan.
Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), believes that for China's car market, the decline of national subsidies will reduce the survival space of low-priced models that rely on subsidies to remain competitive. "Most consumers need to spend around 200,000 yuan to receive full subsidies, so they are likely to upgrade their choices, driving consumption upgrades and raising car prices."
This consumption upgrade trend is also supported by statistics from CPCA. During 2025, the number of price-reduction models in the automotive industry decreased by 42 compared to 2024, with only 177 models seeing price cuts. In 2026, the number of price-reduction models is expected to further decrease. Additionally, consumer research shows that more than 30% of consumers plan to set a budget of over 300,000 yuan for their next car.
These two sets of data reflect that market strategies purely relying on price incentives are gradually shrinking, with consumers now more inclined to pursue high-quality, high-value automotive products.