Sales of all-electric vehicles remain strong in China, but a rising tide no longer floats all boats. And profitability remains a struggle amid a brutal price war.

Chinese EV leader BYD reported August sales results on Monday morning. It sold 371,501 passenger vehicles in August, up less than 1% year over year. Sales of all-electric cars, however, jumped 34% at 199,585 vehicles. Sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles fell 23% to 171,916 cars.

So far this year, BYD has sold 1.40 million all-electric cars, up 39% year over year, and 1.42 million plug-in hybrids, up 8% year over year. In 2024, growth rates were flipped. BYD sold 2.49 million plug-in hybrids, up 73% year over year. All-electric car sales, at 1.76 million, lagged behind, rising 12%.

All-electric car sales now make up about one-third of all Chinese new vehicle sales, up from about 25% a year ago, according to data tracked by Citi analyst Jeff Chung.

More competition, however, means that not everyone is growing. Li Auto delivered 28,529 vehicles in August, down 41% year over year. Chung called Li's results a "slight miss" versus expectations in a Monday report. Li stock was up 0.1% in Hong Kong trading on Tuesday

NIO reported August sales of 31,305 cars, up 55% year over year. XPeng sold 37,709 vehicles in August, up 169% year over year. Chung called both results in line with expectations.

NIO stock was down 1.4% in Hong Kong trading. XPeng stock was down 2.5%. Coming into Tuesday trading, XPeng stock was up about 80% so far this year. NIO stock was up about 50% year to date. Li stock was down slightly so far in 2025.

BYD shares rose 1.7% in overseas trading on Monday. The company also reported first-half 2025 financial highlights over the weekend. More competition has also meant lower EV prices and fewer profits.

BYD earned about $900 million in the second quarter, missing Wall Street estimates of about $1.4 billion. Net profit per car dropped to about $700 from first-quarter levels of about $1,200, wrote Chung. "Price cut[s] didn't help to improve first-half 2025 volume enough," he added.

Tesla doesn't report monthly deliveries or deliveries by region, leaving investors looking for industry data for timely insights. It's struggled to grow sales in China this year.

Through July, Tesla sold about 309,000 all-electric cars in China, down about 5% year over year. In July, Tesla's Chinese EV market share was about 4%, down roughly 1 percentage point year over year. Tesla has struggled to grow car sales in all regions lately. Global sales in the first half of 2025 fell about 13% year over year.

Lower sales have led to lower profits for Tesla, too. In the first half of 2025, it reported operating profit of about $1.3 billion, down from about $2.8 billion over the same span of 2024.

Coming into Tuesday trading, Tesla stock was down about 17% year to date, but up about 56% year over year. Despite lagging sales, investors have been impressed with Tesla's AI efforts. Tesla launched a small fleet of AI-trained robo-taxis in Austin, Texas in June.