Since the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Public Security launched the pilot work of exporting used cars nationwide in 2019, the export of used cars has gradually become a new growth point for China’s foreign trade exports.In 2023, the country exported a total of 275,000 used cars, according to relevant data.
On July 7, 2025, Luo Lei, vice president of the China Automobile Dealers Association, told the 21st Century Business Herald that the figure was close to 400,000 units in 2024, a rapid growth.
在行业高速发展中，低价竞争、二手车售后服务存在短板等隐忧也逐渐显露。
In the afternoon of July 3, the Ministry of Commerce held a regular press conference, a reporter asked a question, recently China’s “0 kilometers” used car exports caused international concern.
In this regard, the Ministry of Commerce spokesman He Yongqian said that the car is a “large durable” consumer goods, to encourage and support the development of the “used car” market is a common practice in all countries.The next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to work with relevant departments to strengthen the export of used cars to guide and promote the healthy and orderly development of used car exports.
Used car exports on the fast track
China’s used car exports began in 2019, reviewing the development process over the past six years, Luo Lei, vice president of the China Automobile Dealers Association, mentioned several milestones to the 21st Century Business Herald.
“Prior to 2019, the export of domestic used cars was prohibited.In 2019, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs, and the Ministry of Public Security launched a nationwide pilot program for the export of used cars, providing a policy to export and solving the problem of haves and have-nots.In 2020, the shift from ‘one car, one license’ to’one license for multiple vehicles’, facilitating the export business.Since then the scope of pilot enterprises and pilot cities has been expanded until the full liberalization in 2024, allowing enterprises capable of exporting used cars to find a business direction and improve market vitality.”He said.
According to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), in 2023, the country exported 275,000 used vehicles, with an export value of $6.88 billion, or about RMB 49.281 billion.2024 In February 2024, the MOFCOM and five other ministries and commissions issued an announcement to shift the exportation of used vehicles from a pilot program to a full-scale rollout.
At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Commerce on July 3, He Yongqian introduced that in February 2024, the Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments, jointly formulated the requirements and procedures related to the export of second-hand vehicles and issued a notice to officially launch the export of second-hand vehicles nationwide.For more than a year, localities have been organizing and implementing according to the requirements of the announcement, strictly guaranteeing quality and safety, and doing a good job related to the export of used cars, which meets the choice of overseas consumers in purchasing cars.
Documents from the Ministry of Commerce and other five departments show that exported vehicles should comply with the Quality Requirements for the Export of Used Passenger Vehicles (WM/T8-2022) or the Quality Requirements for the Export of Used Commercial Vehicles and Trailers (WM/T9-2022), and product inspection reports should be issued by third-party testing organizations.If the exporting target country has access standards, the exporting enterprise shall declare that it complies with the local standards at the same time.Used-vehicle exporters are encouraged to use the “Automobile Maintenance Electronic Health Record System” to check vehicle maintenance records.
In the export of used cars, there is a category of “0 kilometer” used cars appear particularly special.A number of practitioners to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter feedback, “0 kilometer” used car trade model is the domestic release of new cars to foreign customers to promote the advantages of the customer’s order to purchase a new car, used cars exported to the corresponding country.Zhang Xiang, Secretary General of the International Association of Intelligent Transportation Science and Technology, said to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that China’s automobile itself has a very high cost-effective, will be the new car to “0 kilometer” second-hand car mode of export, compared with the second-hand cars in other countries have a higher degree of competitiveness.But the total amount of such exports is small, with the standardized development of the industry, as well as China’s used car competitiveness to further improve, “0 km” used car exports are expected to further decline.
The head of an automobile export enterprise in Xi’an told the 21st Century Business Herald that “2019 is the first year of used car exports, while the 2024 policy establishes a full-process traceability system for the export of used cars, which solves the pain point of opaque information about the condition of the car.”
With the increasing degree of standardization, the development of the industry is on the fast track.Luo Lei, vice president of China Automobile Dealers Association, revealed that China’s used car export volume in 2024 is around 400,000 units.
After-sales system becomes the key competitiveness
With the expansion of the scale, the industry’s discussion on how to make used car exports realize healthy development is getting deeper and deeper.
Luo Lei pointed out that some used car export enterprises only focus on trade and lack of after-sales service, which directly affects the normal use of consumers and also affects the image of national brands.He suggested to refer to the experience of Japanese cars going overseas, when Japanese car companies enter other markets, after-sales and parts and components enterprises should also provide complementary services for the second half of the service.
As one of the first batch of used car export pilot enterprises in China, the general manager of a large automobile export enterprise in South China told the reporter of the 21st Century Business Herald that the company’s main business scope is placed in Russia, Central Asia and some of the countries in Eastern Europe.In order to facilitate the development of business, the company has established a storage and maintenance base in Kashgar port in Xinjiang, and overseas warehouses in Almaty, Moscow, Baku and other cities, to solve the problem of vehicle inventory front and after-sales parts.
“Without spare parts, the car could sit in a warehouse for months, from the time the order is placed with the country until the parts are finally available.So having a robust after-sales system is a big factor in local consumers choosing us.”He said.
In the view of the above-mentioned executives of South China’s auto export enterprises, China’s own brands have persisted in their overseas strategy for many years, and have left a good impression on local consumers by virtue of their cost-effective, technologically advanced product features as well as perfect after-sales system, which have become the main reasons for them to buy Chinese used cars.
Visible, stable after-sales service is an important means to open sales.In this regard, Peng Bo, a researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, suggested in an interview with a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald that enterprises can build an overseas maintenance service system, set up additional overseas after-sales service outlets, and safeguard the supply of spare parts by means of self-built, resource-sharing or multi-channel cooperation.Encourage enterprises with the conditions to establish public display and trading centers and overseas warehouses in key overseas markets to improve the convenience and efficiency of after-sales service.Enhance the professional skills of overseas service teams to ensure that consumers have access to high-quality service experiences.
Luo Lei concluded that as Chinese cars, especially new energy cars, are recognized by the international market, China’s auto industry needs to go overseas in a systematic way.”The first echelon is the OEM, the second echelon is used cars, and the third echelon is the after-sales system.”
Encouraging innovative models of used car exports
The above executive of the South China automobile export enterprise admitted that the pain point encountered by the enterprise in recent years is mainly the low price competition encountered by peers in some regions.”It takes time and cost to deeply plow a market and establish after-sales system and trust.Some companies rely on depressing profits to do a one-shot deal, which is detrimental to the interests of consumers as well as the development of the industry in the long run.”
For the pain points mentioned by practitioners, Peng Bo said to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, to avoid low-priced competition, the relevant departments can strictly regulate the technical requirements of the export of used cars, safety performance and environmental standards, to ensure that the quality of exported vehicles to meet the standards, to avoid the quality of the quality of the problems caused by the low-priced competition.
At the same time to strengthen industry self-regulation, through industry associations to guide enterprises to avoid vicious competition, promote enterprises from price competition to quality competition, to achieve mutual benefit and win-win situation.Promote the development of branding, encourage enterprises to build their own brand image, enhance the competitiveness of the international market, so as to avoid falling into the quagmire of low-priced competition.
Relevant departments can support automobile manufacturers to further improve their international marketing networks, give full play to their brand and channel advantages, and enhance the level of after-sales maintenance services for self-produced vehicles overseas.Supervision should be strengthened by establishing a credit evaluation system for the export of local used cars, guiding enterprises to abide by the law and operate in good faith, and severely penalizing enterprises that export vehicles in violation of the law, stopping the acceptance of their applications for business, and pursuing criminal liability in serious cases, in order to maintain export order and avoid vicious competition.
Peng Bo also mentioned the need to encourage the innovation of used car export marketing model, explore the construction of used car export e-commerce platform, auction platform, etc., to expand sales channels, so that enterprises can enhance competitiveness through diversified competition.
It is worth noting that the country has already explored the aspect of second-hand car e-commerce platform. on June 28, Inner Mongolia’s second-hand car export auction platform in Mongolia on line.In the third Mongolia China Commodity Exhibition, the first batch of used cars from Inner Mongolia through the platform for the live auction, the activities of the site transaction of 24 used cars, the day’s turnover of 3.42 million yuan.
The Department of Commerce of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region said that the Inner Mongolia used car export auction platform is developed and constructed by the used car export base in Inner Mongolia, and it is China’s first cross-border auction platform for used cars in Mongolia and Russia.The platform supports Chinese-Mongolian-Russian trilingual interaction, real-time exchange rate conversion, integration of vehicle testing, customs declaration, “door-to-door” transportation and other full-chain services, realizing the closed-loop operation from online car selection to offline delivery.
Used car exports are also giving rise to an industrial chain including testing, used car logistics and financial services.The executives of the above-mentioned large automobile export enterprises in South China mentioned that the company’s strategy in logistics is to be close to the consumer market and ports, and warehouses have been set up in Nansha Port and Horgos Port.Used car logistics has been professionalized, freight and time can meet the demand.Luo Lei also told the 21st Century Business Herald that used car logistics, financial settlement and supply chain finance, extended warranty and so on are following the pace of going overseas.
The Ministry of Commerce said that it will continue to work with relevant departments to strengthen the guidance on the export of used cars and promote the healthy and orderly development of used car exports.This statement is considered to have brought new opportunities to the industry.
Peng Bo said that the standardization of used car exports is an important part of China’s move from a big automobile country to a strong automobile industry.”Standardized used car exports can help enhance the global influence of China’s auto industry, expand the international market share of Chinese auto products, promote the synergistic development of the upstream and downstream of the auto industry, and promote the upgrading of domestic auto consumption to form a virtuous cycle.At the same time, standardizing the export of used cars can prompt enterprises to focus on brand building and after-sales service, enhance the overall image of Chinese auto brands in the international arena, and lay a good foundation for the export of new cars and the internationalized development of the auto industry.”
Article source: Rongzhi Auto Industry
