China's market for urban NOA (city advanced driver assistance) installations reached 427,000 units in August, a 9.1% month-on-month increase, with penetration climbing to 27.9%, a new high for the year. However, since May, monthly installations have hovered around 400,000 units, indicating a plateau. According to Chinese outlet D1EV, the overall volume has stagnated, but the competitive landscape is shifting beneath the surface.
Supplier race tightens
In August, Yuanrong (DeepRoute) overtook Momenta to become the second-largest independent supplier, with 61,700 installations versus Momenta's 61,300. Huawei continued to lead with 68,600 units, but its market share has slipped from 24.4% in January to 16.0% in August. The top three suppliers now hold shares of 16.0%, 14.5%, and 14.3%, respectively, with a gap of only 1.7 percentage points between first and third. This 'three-way battle' reflects both Yuanrong's rise and Huawei's shrinking dominance.
Yuanrong's growth was driven by new models from GWM (Great Wall Motor), including the Haval H10 (7,024 units) and Tank 300L (5,968 units), as well as Leapmotor's D99 (2,532 units). Li Auto's increase came from the new-generation Li L6, contributing 9,781 units. In contrast, the three smaller suppliers—Horizon Robotics, Zhooyu, and WeRide—combined for only 22,000 installations, a 5.2% share.
Plateau explained by market contraction
The plateau in total installations is largely due to a shrinking overall car market. Passenger vehicle registrations fell from 1.673 million in June to 1.529 million in August, an 8.6% decline. The contraction is most pronounced in the 200,000-yuan (about $28,200) and above segment, where urban NOA penetration is highest. From January to August, registrations in this segment dropped from 576,000 to 522,000 units, with fuel vehicles falling from 310,000 to 174,000 units. As fuel vehicles exit, replaced by EVs with higher NOA adoption, penetration naturally rises—from 40.2% in January to 60.8% in August.
Meanwhile, the 100,000-200,000 yuan segment is picking up the slack. Penetration there rose from 4.7% to 14.2% from January to August, with installations increasing from 33,000 to 99,000 units. Independent suppliers contributed nearly 90% of this growth, led by Momenta (+24,100 units) and Yuanrong (+12,400 units). The sub-100,000 yuan segment is just starting, with Yuanrong dominating.
Despite the overall plateau, the race to create hit models (defined as at least 5,000 installations per month) shows contrasting strategies. In August, self-developed automakers (Tesla, Li Auto, Xiaomi, Nio, Xpeng) had 13 hit models averaging 12,000 units each, while supplier-backed models averaged only 7,000 units. Suppliers spread their volume across many models—Momenta had 57, Yuanrong 25—but their top models accounted for only about 14% of their total. In contrast, Tesla's Model Y alone made up 58% of its installations, Xiaomi's SU7 55%, and Li Auto's i6 46%. This suggests automakers are better at sustaining hit models, as supplier-backed models frequently fall in and out of the top list.
