China Automobile Dealers Association: Tracking of some data on China's automobile exports overseas from January to June 2023

Since 2021, with the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the advantages of China's strong resilience in the automotive industry chain have been fully demonstrated, and China's auto export market has shown super strong growth in the past two years. An important reason for the export growth is the surge in exports of new energy vehicles, and both the export volume and average price have grown strongly. According to customs data, China exported 2.34 million cars in the first half of 2023, and it should be possible to exceed 5 million under normal circumstances throughout the year. From the tracking of some data on China's overseas auto exports in 2023, the export growth rate of the main independent countries is very strong. Although exports in South America and Africa in the southern hemisphere have declined, the high-quality growth of exports in developed countries is very good, so exports are still very good overall.

Judging from the statistics of Chinese automobile exports to the local markets of some overseas countries , China's automobile exports have also shown a stronger and better growth situation. For a long time, automobiles have been regarded as a symbol of industrial power. In our concept, the world's industrial powers, such as the United States, Japan, and Germany, are all automobile industrial powers. China is currently the world's largest automobile exporter, and its future potential is even greater.

Now, my country's exports of self-owned brands have entered a new stage, that is, an opportunity period for the development of new energy. There has been a huge change in the exports of self-owned brands mainly based on new energy and fuel vehicles. Because in terms of fuel vehicles, our technology is still obviously backward compared to the products of European and American countries, while our new energy technology is obviously in a relatively advanced state, so there is a large space for China's new energy exports. In addition, since Europe is currently in a state of relatively tight resources, the demand for cars is relatively large, and there are some policy support, so it brings huge good opportunities for China's new energy vehicle exports.

At present, the main problem facing the export of my country's own new energy brands is the large fluctuations in the export market. Currently, Europe's demand for new energy vehicles is still relatively large, which is also a good opportunity for China's exports.

In the future, Chinese independent brands will participate in international competition and need to effectively improve their technology to ensure that their product technology and standards meet European standards, especially in testing, environmental protection and other aspects. New energy vehicle products should be made according to the local needs of Europeans and targeted improvements. A lot of work needs to be done to adapt to localization and improvement of new energy vehicle products in order to obtain better satisfaction. At the same time, we must also make corresponding efforts in sales and maintenance. We must establish a good use environment overseas. Whether it is charging facilities or after-sales maintenance, we must establish an effective guarantee mechanism to ensure that the satisfaction of car users is improved, prevent the service unfinished in the early export to developing countries, and change the passive situation of automobile exports fighting guerrilla warfare. At present, China's new energy vehicle exports need to build a good reputation and credibility in the European market and reduce internal friction.

Growth characteristics of automobile exports

After years of plateauing at the million-unit level, China's auto exports finally broke through in 2021. After a sharp decline in the global economic downturn from 2013 to 2016, the export growth rate gradually stabilized and improved from 2017 to 2020, with annual exports remaining at around 1 million units. In 2020, exports reached 1.08 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 13%. It then entered a period of high growth.

Due to the impact of the global epidemic and Tesla's domestic production, China's automobile exports have achieved huge sales and unit price breakthroughs. From January to June 2023, China's automobile exports achieved 2.34 million units, with a continued strong growth of 73% in export growth. As long as there is stable market demand internationally, there is still huge room for the development of China's automobile exports in the future.

The sales volume for the whole year of 2020 reached 1.085 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 13.1%. The sales volume in the export market in 2021 was 2.187 million units, a year-on-year increase of 102%.

The export market sales in 2022 reached 3.4 million units, a year-on-year increase of 55%, mainly due to insufficient overseas supply and the substantial enhancement of the export competitiveness of Chinese auto companies. In the past two years, China's exports have grown significantly due to the international epidemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

In June 2023, China exported 410,000 cars, with a continued strong growth of 61%. From January to June 2023, China exported 2.34 million cars, with a continued strong growth of 73%. Compared with the gradual recovery of domestic car sales, the performance of the export market is still very strong. The main driving force this year is still the improvement of the competitiveness of Chinese products and the breakthrough in the European and American markets. The international brands in the Russian market under the Russia-Ukraine crisis have been fully replaced by Chinese cars, especially the huge export increase brought by the improvement of China's new energy export competitiveness.

Monthly trend of vehicle exports

From the monthly trend, exports in recent years still show seasonal characteristics, showing the characteristics of a roller coaster with a peak and a decline in the summer. The auto market started strongly in 2022, but from February to April, affected by the Shanghai epidemic, the export volume showed a downward trend month by month, and continued to rise from May to September. However, under the global epidemic, due to problems in the overseas supply chain, China's auto exports have risen strongly.

Exports will continue to be strong in 2023, maintaining sales volume in the fourth quarter of 2022, reflecting a significant increase in the global competitiveness of China's automobile industry.

China's auto exports reached 410,000 units in June 2023, and exports in June continued to maintain a historically high trend. Due to the high base brought about by the recovery of Shanghai in 2022, exports in June this year increased by more than 61%, so the situation of China's auto exports has continued to surge.

Structural characteristics of automobile exports

The export car market in 2017-2019 has been growing relatively in the same period. In 2021, the export of complete vehicles (including chassis) was 2.19 million units, with a growth rate of 102%, which is a very good performance. The four-wheel drive SUV and other passenger cars performed well in exports in 2021-2022.

From January to June 2023, automobile exports are strong across the board, with passenger cars being the main export product, with the highest growth rate of 89%. Among them, four-wheel drive SUVs and unlisted passenger cars have good exports. This year, the export performance of buses and special vehicles is average.

From January to June 2023, customs exported 330,000 trucks, a year-on-year increase of 33%. Compared with the sluggish domestic truck market, the export performance of all types of trucks has rebounded recently.

China's overseas vehicle exports have increased significantly

Because some of the exported cars are joint venture models and some are commercial vehicles, it is difficult to have complete statistics, so we only count the sales of domestic models in mainstream regions. According to the monthly local sales statistics of 70 overseas countries, from January to June 2023, the sales of Chinese domestic brand cars in the local market reached 720,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 59%, which is relatively strong; in June, the overseas retail sales of domestic car exports reached 143,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 76%, showing a strong and good growth trend.

Judging from the overseas export retail data of Chinese automobiles, the monthly trend is relatively stable, and it has shown a good growth trend recently, especially in June, when it reached a historical high of 143,000 units, showing a relatively strong growth trend. At present, the overseas export retail data of Chinese automobiles also shows the characteristics of continued strong growth.

Analysis of Chinese exported vehicles overseas

China's automobile exports have performed extremely well, and the growth has been extremely rapid according to customs data. Judging from the data statistics of overseas local markets, China's automobile exports have also shown a stronger and better growth situation. The main reason is that in the past, many of our automobile exports were in underdeveloped countries or markets that were difficult to count, so the overseas data did not reflect it very fully. Now our exports show that some high-end markets overseas have performed more prominently, so overall, we can see that the growth rate of China's automobile exports in overseas data has shown a strong growth trend in the past two years, especially since 2022, China's automobile exports as a whole have shown a round of explosive growth, showing strong growth for two consecutive years in the European market, and skyrocketing in North America such as Mexico, but China's exports to the southern hemisphere such as Africa and South America are weak, and the overall overseas retail statistics share has performed extremely well.

Tracking overseas sales data of Chinese automakers

The overseas export data of Chinese automakers is also impressive, especially the overseas performance of major automakers. At present, the major automakers such as SAIC, Great Wall, Geely, Chery and Changan Automobile are showing extremely strong performance, especially SAIC Group's exports have shown an extremely strong and good trend in recent times.

From January to June 2023, SAIC Group's overseas exports reached 250,000 units, which is an extremely good performance. Chery, Geely, Great Wall, Changan and others also showed strong growth.

Overseas status of Chinese independent brands

Judging from the export performance of brands, the main highlights of China's automobile exports are the MG brand, the Chery brand, and especially the BYD brand, which have performed extremely well.

MG's export performance after SAIC's acquisition showed a strong growth trend. Chery's overseas export data also showed the good performance of China's automobile exports. BYD's exports grew explosively.

Performance of Chinese automakers in overseas markets

Judging from the group's export performance, from January to June 2023, SAIC Group's performance in the Chilean market, Egyptian market, Saudi market, Australian market, British market, Mexican market, Indian market, Thai market and other markets was extremely strong and good.

Chery Automobile has performed extremely well in the Chilean, Russian and Egyptian markets, while Great Wall Motors has also performed very well in the Russian, South African and some other markets.

International automakers are determined to avoid risks as the Russian market experienced a sharp decline in 2022. Domestic automakers were also very cautious at the beginning, with small quantities exported to Russia, but recent sales have been very large.

Tracking Chinese New Energy Vehicle Companies in Overseas Markets

Data from some overseas markets confirms China's customs export data, and China's new energy vehicle exports are strong, and its own performance is very good. Recently, we can see that Chinese automakers in major markets such as the UK, France, Germany, and other major markets are also performing very well. In the Dutch market, automakers such as SAIC, Geely, and BYD are performing relatively well.

The new forces also performed relatively well in the Norwegian market. Several new forces mainly entered Europe in Norway and had a certain scale, which showed that Chinese car companies had made good breakthroughs in overseas markets.