Chery and Great Wall take the lead, followed closely by BYD. Among the top five domestically produced automakers going overseas, who is the real leader?

When the competition in the Chinese auto market becomes fierce, it becomes necessary for Chinese auto brands to expand overseas. Among Chinese auto brands, many mainstream enterprises that are looking for opportunities have already started competing in overseas markets.

Recently, an organization has counted the overseas sales of the top five domestic brands (Chery, Great Wall, Changan, Geely, and BYD) in November 2024. Judging from the rankings and specific sales data, the competition among these domestic brands in the overseas market may be far more intense than we imagined.

Among the top five independent brands, Chery ranks first with a relatively leading data.

On December 1, Chery Holdings released its November sales report, with the group's monthly sales exceeding 280,000 units, once again setting a new monthly sales record. Among them, 104,911 vehicles were exported, with export sales exceeding 100,000+ for three consecutive months. From January to November, the cumulative exports were 1,046,186 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 22.4%.

Chery is one of the earliest domestic brands to enter overseas markets. Its export business began in 2001, and gradually expanded from the Middle East market to Egypt, Chile, Brazil, Russia and other places. It has now gradually spread to more than 80 countries and regions around the world.

Although Chery's layout was relatively early, in terms of actual export performance, Chery's export performance in previous years was relatively average. Data showed that Chery's global exports in 2020 were only 114,000 vehicles.

Fortunately, Chery knows how to seize the opportunity. Its previous layout in Russia happened to coincide with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. You know, before 2021, the Russian auto market was completely occupied by old European automakers such as Germany and France, as well as Japanese and Korean brands, and it was difficult for Chinese automakers to intervene.

In 2022, after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out, European, Japanese and Korean automakers withdrew from the Russian market one after another. In addition, half of the production capacity of the Russian automobile industry collapsed due to the conflict, so Chery's "hibernation" came in handy.

Thanks to this, Chery's export data has surged. From 2021 to 2023, Chery's overseas sales will be 269,200, 451,300 and 937,100 vehicles respectively. Year-on-year growth rates are 68% and 108% respectively. In the first quarter of 2024, Chinese automakers exported 176,000 vehicles to Russia, most of which were contributed by Chery.

However, Chery's exports are still mainly concentrated in Russia, its largest overseas market, accounting for about 1/4. If it wants to make better breakthroughs in overseas markets, it may still need to make more efforts in the more important EU and US markets.

In addition to Chery, Great Wall Motors also performed well in overseas markets. According to relevant data, Great Wall Motors sold 127,400 vehicles in November, up 3.7% year-on-year. Cumulative sales from January to November: 1,098,000 vehicles, down 1.81% year-on-year.

Among them, overseas sales in November were 43,200 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 21.66%. From January to November, the cumulative overseas sales were 411,800 vehicles, accounting for 37.5% of the total sales.

Although Great Wall Motors' export sales are slightly worse than Chery's, its profit situation is very stable. Since 2021, Great Wall Motors has entered a new stage of profitability. Thanks to the increase in the proportion of high-priced models such as the Tank and the contribution of overseas sales, the company's financial indicators have been steadily improving.

Now, the overseas market is a relatively important growth direction for Great Wall. The company's overseas revenue and profit share are constantly increasing. In 2023, its overseas revenue accounted for 31% and its gross profit accounted for 43%, ranking at the forefront of the industry.

The results of Great Wall Motor's "ecological overseas expansion" strategy have become increasingly significant in the past two years. Great Wall has established factories in many places around the world. This not only shortens the product delivery cycle and reduces logistics costs, but also better meets the needs of the local market, giving Great Wall a certain advantage in localization.

However, similar to Chery, Great Wall's main performance is also concentrated in the Russian market. Take October as an example, the sales volume of Haval brand alone in Russia accounted for 54% of Great Wall's total export volume in October.

The disadvantage of over-concentrating in one region is that when the overall environment in that region is not good, the entire export performance will be greatly affected. Just like last November, the Russian auto market performed poorly last month, and Great Wall's exports fell by 2.8% month-on-month.

Looking at Changan, which ranked third, according to relevant data, Changan Automobile's sales in November were 277,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 22%. New energy vehicle sales were 102,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 98.4%. Among them, overseas sales in November were 37,900 units, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%.

Facing the trend of going overseas, Changan Automobile has proposed the "Ocean Embraces All Rivers" global plan, intending that by 2030, Changan Automobile's overseas series investment will exceed US$10 billion, annual sales in overseas markets will exceed 1.2 million vehicles, and the number of overseas business employees will exceed 10,000, making Changan Automobile a world-class automobile brand.

It can be seen that Changan Automobile has made a great determination to go overseas. From its actions this year, we can also feel that Changan is accelerating its pace of going overseas.

In January this year, Changan Automobile officially delivered the first batch of right-hand drive commercial vehicles exported to Thailand. It then announced that it would establish a global right-hand drive vehicle production base in Rayong Province, Thailand, with an initial production capacity of 100,000 vehicles, which will be put into production in the first quarter of 2025.

In August, Changan Automobile held a Middle East and Africa brand launch conference in Riyadh, announcing that it would gradually launch 10 models in these regions.

Geely ranked fourth this time, with sales of 250,100 vehicles in November, up 27% year-on-year and more than 10% month-on-month. Cumulative sales from January to November were 1.9665 million vehicles, up about 31% year-on-year.

Among them, overseas sales in November reached 32,800 units, a year-on-year increase of more than 13%. Although Geely Auto ranks behind Changan, its growth rate is relatively large, and it obviously has better development potential.

In order to further develop overseas markets, Geely has established an extensive sales and service network overseas. As of October 2024, Geely Auto has established more than 650 sales and service outlets in 76 countries around the world, strengthening its deep connection with overseas users.

In overseas markets, the main direction of the Geely brand is to deepen its presence in ASEAN, the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and Central Asia. Geely has made the Middle East and ASEAN into benchmark markets. For example, a unique model has been formed in Malaysia. Through technology, supply chain empowerment and production capacity coordination, Proton's market share has increased from the initial 9% to 20%. This achievement shows that Geely is still very capable in international operations.

More importantly, Geely now owns brands such as Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus through its acquisitions, which gives it first-mover advantage in the difficult-to-conquer markets of Europe and the United States. Coupled with the empowerment of Geely's intelligent electrification technology, it has enormous potential.

Compared with other domestic brands, BYD's momentum is slightly weaker among the top five. Its sales of new energy vehicles in November were 506,800 units, a year-on-year increase of 67.86%. Cumulative sales from January to November: 3,757,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 40.02%. Among them, overseas sales of passenger cars in November were 31,000 units, accounting for less than 10% of total sales.

It is undeniable that BYD is in its heyday in the domestic market, but from the perspective of overseas market development, BYD only announced its "passenger car overseas expansion" plan in May 2021, more than three years ago, which is a relatively late start. Moreover, for the sake of the European market, BYD strategically gave up the Russian market, which is equivalent to losing a major source of sales.

However, BYD is moving faster in its overseas expansion. In August this year, its Thai factory with an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles was completed and put into production. In addition to supplying the Thai market, it will also export to markets such as ASEAN.

BYD's Hungarian factory will be completed and put into production next year, with an estimated annual production capacity of about 200,000 vehicles. By then, the factory will become BYD's bridgehead for radiating to the European Union.

In the important Brazilian market, BYD's largest overseas factory is expected to be completed and put into production next year, with an initial production capacity of 150,000 vehicles, which will then increase to 300,000 vehicles, and will radiate to the entire South American market including Brazil.

If BYD's potential continues to grow, the boost it will have on its overseas performance is imaginable.

As of now, the top five independent domestic companies have worked hard on their overseas expansion and have achieved good results. Who will be the biggest winner in their overseas expansion competition?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.