According to the statistics of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China’s automobile sales in the first quarter of this year amounted to 7.47 million units, up 11.2% year-on-year, of which new energy vehicles amounted to 3.075 million units, up 47.1% year-on-year, accounting for 41.2% of the total automobile sales.In addition, vehicle exports maintained growth, overseas influence continues to improve, the first quarter of the automobile exports 1.42 million units, an increase of 7.3%, of which 441,000 units of new energy vehicles exported, an increase of 43.9%.
According to the data of eCar statistics, in the first quarter of 2025, China’s automobile exports ranked in the top ten automobile brands, independent brands showed polarization, Yueda Kia is the only brand to enter the top ten, and Tesla China showed a sharp decline.
Specifically, Chery Automobile ranked first with sales of 252,500 units, but the year-on-year decline of 0.1%.Export has always been Chery’s advantage, as China’s auto exports “veteran”, Chery over the years, plowing the overseas market, established a perfect sales network and production base.Especially in Russia, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions, Chery cars are loved by local consumers.In addition, in the face of uncertainty in the global trade environment, Chery has accelerated overseas localized production, effectively avoiding tariff barriers.Meanwhile, its new energy models are also popular in Southeast Asia and South America, with sales of 163,000 new energy vehicles in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 171.8%, providing new impetus for export growth.
BYD followed closely behind, exporting a total of 200,700 units in the first quarter, up 105.0% year-on-year, and was the manufacturer with the largest increase among the top ten automakers.With advantages in core technologies such as batteries, motors and electronic controls, BYD launched a series of models favored by overseas consumers.
In addition, BYD’s active promotion of localized production and independent shipping has effectively dealt with the high tariff barriers in Europe and the United States and other regions, further enhancing its competitiveness in overseas markets.
SAIC Passenger Cars ranked third with 104,400 units, down 17.1 percent year-on-year, and was the largest independent manufacturer in terms of year-on-year sales decline. The decline in exports in the first quarter may be related to the intensification of competition in some markets, supply chain instability and other factors.
The main brand of SAIC passenger car export is MG. Despite the decline in export volume, MG brand has good market performance in Europe, Southeast Asia, India and other regions.SAIC’s deepening reform has been effective, and its own brand and new energy vehicles have become the main drivers of growth.
However, SAIC has been committed to technological innovation and product upgrades, and is expected to regain its growth momentum in overseas markets in the future.
Through a series of overseas mergers and acquisitions and strategic cooperation, Geely has rapidly improved the brand’s international influence, and its brands such as Volvo and Link have performed well in the European market, especially the Link brand, which has successfully attracted the attention of young European consumers with its unique design, advanced technology and high-end positioning.
In addition, Geely has also actively laid out in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions to continuously expand its overseas market territory.Through localized production and marketing, Geely better meets the needs of local consumers and drives the growth of its export business.
Changan Automobile exported 98,100 units, up 10.1 percent year-on-year, maintaining a stable growth trend.Great Wall Motor exported 76,300 units, down 7.3 percent year-on-year.
Great Wall Motor has strong technical advantages and brand awareness in the pickup truck and SUV fields, and its products are also highly regarded in overseas markets.
SAIC-GM-Wuling exported 52,900 units, up 7.7 percent year-on-year.
SAIC-GM-Wuling’s export models mainly focus on small cars and mini-cars, and have a certain market share in Southeast Asia and other regions. However, with the intensification of market competition and the changes in the global economic situation, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s export business is facing certain pressure.
Jiangsu Yueda Kia exported 38,800 units, up 29.1 percent year-on-year.
As a joint venture brand, although Yueda Kia’s performance in the domestic market is average, it has also become a new growth point for its performance through domestic exports.In recent years, with the rise of China’s own brand vehicles and the rapid development of the global new energy vehicle market, joint venture brands are facing increasing challenges in overseas markets.Jiangsu Yueda Kia needs to accelerate product upgrades and upgrade its technology to adapt to market changes and revitalize its export business.
Tesla China exported 38,100 units, down 56.9% year-on-year.
Although Tesla is a globally recognized brand of new energy vehicles, its export performance has suffered a serious decline, which may be related to factors such as intensified competition in China’s new energy vehicle market and policy changes in some overseas markets, as well as a series of political behaviors by Musk.
Outside the top ten list, although the market share of most manufacturers is not large, but they all realize in significant growth, becoming a new performance growth point, for example, Dongfeng Motor year-on-year growth of 120.4%, Beijing Hyundai year-on-year growth of 2,366.9%, and Xiaopeng Automobile year-on-year growth of 370.4%.
From the rankings, it is easy to see that China’s own brand exports have become more and more advantageous, in addition to Tesla and Yueda Kia in the top ten rankings, the other are independent brands, including Chery Automobile, BYD is far ahead of the others, especially BYD, a year-on-year growth of 105.0%, becoming the most growth potential for exporting overseas manufacturers, this is related to the frantic layout of BYD in the overseas market, and the majority of joint-venture brands, includingYoda Kia, Beijing Hyundai, Changan Ford, SAIC Motor General Motors and other joint venture brands, most of which began exporting their products to overseas markets for sale after experiencing sales pressure in the domestic market.
China’s auto exports to achieve today’s results is not by chance, but the result of a variety of factors.From the policy level, the state’s support for the automobile industry continues to increase, the introduction of a series of policies and measures to encourage automobile exports, such as optimizing the export tax rebate policy, strengthen the development of overseas market services, etc., for the automobile enterprises to “go out” to provide a strong guarantee.
In terms of trade policy, tariff barriers, trade friction and other factors have a direct impact on automobile exports.In recent years, with the rise of global trade protectionism, some countries and regions have set up higher tariff barriers and trade restriction measures on Chinese automobiles.
For example, the European Union imposed countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles, which undoubtedly increases the cost and difficulty of China’s new energy vehicles to enter the European market, to a certain extent, inhibit the export growth of related models.
However, Chinese car companies are also actively responding to reduce the adverse impact of trade policies by enhancing the added value of products, optimizing the supply chain layout, strengthening localized production and other ways to diversify the product line to hedge against the impact of trade barriers, and continue to consolidate the competitiveness of the European market.
Competition in the international automobile market is extremely fierce, and many internationally renowned automobile enterprises have long been laying out their business in the global market for many years, with profound brand heritage, advanced technology and perfect sales and service networks.
Chinese automobile enterprises are facing great challenges to stand out in such a market environment.Compared with international automobile enterprises, there used to be a big gap between Chinese automobiles in terms of brand awareness, technical level and product quality, etc. However, in recent years, by continuously increasing investment in R&D, improving technological innovation capability and optimizing product quality, the competitiveness of Chinese automobiles has been significantly improved.
Today, China’s new energy vehicles have been at the forefront of the world in areas such as battery technology and intelligent driving, and are able to compete with international car companies.
Article source: Gathering Gas Watch
