Shanghai Customs released a set of data showing that in the first 10 months of this year, the export of automobiles from Waigaoqiao Port Area, a specialized terminal for import and export of automobiles at Shanghai ports, reached 1,077,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 28.8%, of which the electric cars increased 65% year-on-year, reaching 487,000 units.
This set of data can be said to be a microcosm of the rapid growth of China’s auto exports in recent years.
-01-
Export Acceleration
In recent years, China’s auto exports have accelerated significantly.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in 2021, the number of China’s automobile exports increased sharply by 102.51% year-on-year to 2.015 million units, with exports of new energy vehicles soaring by 304.60% to 310,000 units.
In 2022, China’s auto exports continued to grow strongly, with the number increasing by 54.39% year-on-year to 3,110,000 units, and exports of new energy vehicles also increasing by 120% year-on-year to 679,000 units.
In 2023, this trend continued, with China’s auto exports increasing significantly by 57.83% year-on-year in volume to 4.71 million units, and exports of new energy vehicles increasing by 77.60% year-on-year to 1.203 million units.
Entering 2024, although the growth rate has slowed down due to the high base, the number of Chinese automobile exports in the first 10 months still increased by 23.79% year-on-year to 4.855 million units, and exports of new energy vehicles increased by 6.3% year-on-year to 1.0580 million units.
From these figures, it can be seen that China’s auto exports have experienced explosive growth since 2021, and have maintained high growth for three consecutive years.Although the growth rate of export volume declined to 23.79% this year under the influence of high base figure, it still remained at double-digit level.
New energy vehicles, in particular, have seen a significant increase in export volume since 2021, and despite the slowdown in cumulative export volume growth this year, the proportion of new energy vehicle exports has risen from 15.38% in 2021 to 21.79% in the first 10 months of this year.
It can be said that the past nearly four years have been a period of booming Chinese automobile exports and exports of new energy vehicles.
-02-
Autonomous Brands Moving Forward
So which car companies play an important role in vehicle exports?
According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in 2023, the top 10 vehicle exporters include SAIC (1.099 million units), Chery (925,000 units), Geely (408,000 units), Chang’an (358,000 units), Tesla China (344,000 units), Great Wall (316,000 units), BYD (252,000 units), Dongfeng (231,000 units),BAIC (190,000 units) and JAC (170,000 units).
And in the first 10 months of 2024, the top 5 new energy passenger car exporters were BYD (322,400 units), Tesla China (243,400 units), Chery (131,700 units), SAIC Passenger Vehicles (103,100 units) and Changan Automobile (56,500 units).
Among these car companies, except for Tesla China, which is a foreign-funded car company, all others are relying on their own brands to expand overseas markets.Even automakers like SAIC, which has joint venture brands as its mainstay, have focused more on their own brands in their export business.
It is not difficult to see that the rapid growth of China’s auto exports and exports of new energy vehicles in recent years actually reflects the enhancement of the competitiveness of China’s own brand vehicles in overseas markets.
-03-
Productivity for the spear
Of course, in China’s automobile industry strength, independent brand automobile competitiveness enhancement, independent brand new energy vehicles gradually have a strong competitive advantage, China’s automobile in recent years, the rapid expansion of the scale of exports also have other external opportunities to help.
The global supply chain was greatly disturbed during the new crown epidemic, while China’s automotive supply chain is more complete, the stability of the advantages of the better highlighted during this period, which played a positive role in promoting China’s auto exports.
Then again, for example, geographic factors have led to a significant increase in demand in the Russian market, and in 2023, the number of cars exported from China to Russia even reached 909,000 units, which is 119.04% higher than the 415,000 units exported from Mexico, the second-largest destination for China’s automobile exports.
The fact that Chinese automobiles have been able to seize the opportunities of overseas market development in the past few years shows that we do have the corresponding competitiveness and good potential to seize overseas markets.
However, in the context of counter-globalization, Chinese automobiles are also facing a number of challenges from non-market factors in their overseas market expansion, especially in Europe and the United States, where Chinese new energy vehicle companies may face additional challenges when traditional global automotive giants feel the pressure of competition.
Some of these challenges can be dealt with flexibly through, for example, localization of production capacity, but others may lack effective means of coping with them, leaving car companies to bear greater pressure.
However, in the end, the most convincing is the product power.For Chinese automobiles, whether fuel or new energy vehicles, the key to continuing to expand overseas markets in the future is to fully improve product strength.
This article originated from: Hanshu Finance
