May auto exports hit record high
Car exports far exceed Japan’s 410,000 units in first five months
New Energy Vehicle Exports Exceed Fuel Vehicle Exports
Hybrid car exports soar
Philippines Becomes No. 1 Pure Electric Vehicle Export Destination
Brazil is the No. 1 market for hybrids
Mexico replaces Russia as top export market
(China’s automobile exports of 2.77 million units in January-May 2025 $45.1 billion)
In May 2025, China’s automobile exports hit another record high.In the same month, the export of all kinds of automobiles (buses, minibuses and cargo trucks) totaled 674,994 units, a record high, up 23% year-on-year; among them, the export of minibuses (with less than 9 seats) reached a new high of 591,220 units, an increase of 21% year-on-year; the export of hybrid vehicles (plug-in and non-plug-in) reached a new high of 141,907 units, an increase of 116% year-on-year; and the export of cargo trucks reached a new high of 75,686 units, an increase of 48% year-on-year.686 units, up 48% year-on-year.
China’s auto exports (passenger cars, trucks and buses, excluding chassis) rose 17.4% year-on-year to 2.773 million units in Jan-May 2025, up 410,000 units from last year, of which exports of minibuses increased 15% year-on-year to 2.419 million units, exports of buses and coaches increased 23% year-on-year to 38,000 units, and exports of freight trucks increased 315,000 units, up 36% year-on-year.
(China’s exports of automobile varieties in January-May Units)
Exports of minibuses with 9 seats or less, and exports of traditional fuel-powered vehicles amounted to 1.137 million units, a year-on-year drop of 2.4% (for the first time).New energy vehicle exports of 1.282 million units, more than the fuel vehicle exports (of which 791,000 units of pure electric vehicle exports, an increase of 10.3%, non-plug-in hybrid vehicle exports of 160,000 units, an increase of 94%, can be plug-in hybrid exports of 332,000 units, a year-on-year surge of 144%).
(Classification and volume of China’s exported minibus power)
Over the same period Japan exported 2,359,021 units of cars (new used and body), up just 2% and well short of the 2.5 million units in 2019.Of these, 2,068,637 units were minibuses (new and used), slightly more than 1% above the same period last year, while trucks and buses increased 12% year-on-year to 264,797 units.
China’s automobile exports exceeded Japan’s in January-May 2025 by as much as 413,600 units.
(Number of Japanese automobile exports, January-May)
China exported automobile goods worth 45.12 billion U.S. dollars in January-May 2025, an increase of 6.9% year-on-year.Among them, large passenger and buses amounted to US$2.49 billion, an increase of 22.4% year-on-year; minibuses amounted to US$36.43 billion, an increase of 4% year-on-year; and cargo trucks exported US$6.2 billion, an increase of 20% year-on-year.
(Value of automobiles exported from China, January-May)
In the minibus exports, the export value of traditional fuel-powered vehicles 14.01 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year drop of 8%; pure electric vehicle exports 13.21 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year drop of 9.5% (which means that the volume of increase in the price of the drop); non-plug-in hybrid vehicle exports 2.47 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 51%; can be plugged into the hybrid exports of 6.74 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 89%.
(Classification and export value of China’s exported minibus power)
The value of Japan’s automobile exports in the first five months totaled 7,191.7 billion yen, or about $48.153 billion (based on the average exchange rate of the U.S. dollar-yen for the January-May period).
(Value of Japanese automobile exports, including bodies)
China’s hybrid minibus exports favored in 2025. China exported 573,871 units of hybrid (plug-in and non-plug-in) minibuses in the whole of 2024, with 491,839 units in January-May this year alone, up 125% year-on-year, and is expected to surpass last year’s full-year export volume by the end of June.The main destinations of China’s hybrid vehicle exports, in order of large regions: the European Union and the United Kingdom, 150,330 units, a year-on-year surge of 236%, which is directly related to the European Union’s increase in tariffs on purely electric vehicles to imports of hybrid vehicles.Latin American countries (especially Brazil Mexico) increased 51% year-on-year to 137,906 units; 17 countries in the Greater Middle East (including Egypt) imported a total of 102,078 units of China’s hybrid vehicles, an increase of 474% year-on-year; Central Asia and Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, 8 countries imported a total of 29,692 units of China’s hybrid vehicles, an increase of 3% year-on-year; Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, a year-on-year increase of 149% to 22,526 units; Oceania was 16,058 units, an increase of 123% year-on-year; Russia and Belarus increased 88% year-on-year to 12,236 units; North America was only 6,524 units, down 23% year-on-year; and South Asia was 5,430 units, an increase of 76% year-on-year.
(Major destinations and volume of China’s exports of hybrid vehicles, January-May, by region)
Among the top 10 destinations (specific countries or regions) are, in order:
Brazil 84,133 units, +17% y/y (tariff increase on pure electric vehicles); and
UAE 49,068 units, +252% year-on-year;
Mexico 47,789 units, + 164% y/y;
40,795 units in the UK, + 110% year-on-year;
Belgium 34,382 units, +242% year-on-year (EU tariff increase on pure electric vehicles);
Spain 26,671 units at 540% (EU tariff increase on pure electric vehicles);
Israel 25,818 units, compared to only 3 units at the same time last year;
Italy 20,214 units, + 1048% y-o-y (tariff increase on pure electric vehicles in the EU);
Turkey 14,498 units, +530% year-on-year (EU market springboard);
Australia 14,345 units, +138% y-o-y;
In addition, Azerbaijan’s imports also exceeded 10,000 units at 11,784 units, an increase of 467% year-on-year.
(Main destinations of China’s exports of pure electric vehicles, January-May) (Taiwan)
From January to May 2025, Chinese automobiles (all models) were exported to 210 countries or regions.
The first destination for the change from Russia to Mexico, the first five months of China’s exports to its buses, minibuses, cargo trucks totaled 238,692 units, an increase of 26% year-on-year; of which 430 units of buses, a year-on-year drop of 75%; cargo trucks increased by 13% year-on-year to 38,407 units; traditional fuel-powered vehicles, 113,854 units, a year-on-year drop of 6.4%; purely electric vehicles 38,212 units, a year-on-year increase of 181%; non-plug-in hybrid 6,316 units, an increase of 34%; can be plug-in hybrid 209% to 41,473 units.181% year-over-year; 6,316 units of non-plug-in hybrids, up 34% year-over-year; and plug-in hybrids, up 209% year-over-year to 41,473 units.
(Automobile exports to Mexico, January-May)
The UAE serves as a springboard for the Greater Middle East market, becoming the second largest export destination for Chinese automobiles.China’s auto exports to the UAE have been growing rapidly year after year, with only 3,746 units in 2017, increasing to 88,862 units in 2022; surging to 153,107 units in 2023, and then to 322,654 units in 2024.China exported 184,339 vehicles to the UAE from January to May this year, an increase of 63% year-on-year, including 1,296 units of buses, an increase of 337% year-on-year; 5,552 units of cargo trucks, an increase of 99% year-on-year; 104,006 units of traditional fuel-powered minibuses, an increase of 57% year-on-year; pure electric down to 24,417 units; non-pluggable hybrid up 180% year-on-year to 36,389 units; and plug-in hybrid up 1283% year-on-year.plug-in hybrid increased by 1,283% year-on-year to 12,679 units.
Russia came in third place, still a key destination for Chinese car (all models) exports, but down 57% year-on-year to 151,490 units, compared to 353,627 units a year ago.Russia’s honeymoon period for Chinese automobiles seems to be over, and my exports to the country have been dropping month after month, all due to taxes and fees.20 China exported a whopping 128,751 vehicles to Russia in September 2024 (971 buses, 115,251 minibuses, 12,529 vans), before dropping all the way down to just 21,652 in May.
(China’s automobile exports to Russia, units/month)
From January to May this year, China exported to Russia 627 units of buses, down 66% year-on-year; 4,116 units of cargo trucks, down 84% year-on-year; and 146,747 units of minibuses, down 55% year-on-year (of which 135,396 units of traditional fuel-powered minibuses, down 58% year-on-year; 2,574 units of purely electric vehicles, an increase of 208% year-on-year; 1,940 units of non-pluggable hybrids, a year-on-year drop of(21%); 6,837 units of plug-in hybrids, up 183% year-on-year).
Brazil, though down 12% year-on-year, threw in fourth place at 140,525 units, with pure electric vehicles down and hybrids up;
(Classification of automobiles exported to Brazil in January-May Units)
Fifth was Belgium, slightly ahead of the same period last year at 124,981 units;
Australia ranked sixth at 123,736 units, up 52 percent year-over-year;
The seventh largest destination was Saudi Arabia, up 23% to 108,476 units;
The UK increased by 3.6% year-on-year to 107,326 units and ranked eighth;
The second tier (over 50,000 units) was, in order, the Philippines (up 51% year-on-year to 95,231 units), Turkey (up 13% year-on-year to 70,634 units), Malaysia (up 42% year-on-year to 65,859 units), Kazakhstan (up 89% year-on-year to 65,825 units), Spain (up 51% year-on-year to 61,715 units), and Thailand, down slightly to 56,631 units,Chile (up 37% year-on-year to 56,598 units), and Italy up 38% year-on-year to 54,453 units.
The third tier (over 30,000 units) is:
印尼（同比增140%至47,775台）；
Israel (up 124% year-on-year to 40,204 units);
Belarus (down 17% year-on-year to 38,834 units);
India (up 32% year-on-year to 37,759 units);
South Africa (up 100% year-on-year to 37,613 units);
Peru (up 42% year-on-year to 35,568 units);
Vietnam (up 57% year-on-year to 33,862 units);
Egypt (up 45% year-on-year to 32,829 units);
Uzbekistan (down 11% year-on-year to 32,166 units);
South Korea (up 5% year-on-year to 30,795 units);
The fourth tier (over 10,000 units) in order is: Germany (27,475), Algeria (26,110 +40%), Kyrgyzstan (25,534), the United States (24,851), Slovenia (23,838 +71%)), Kuwait (22,822 +21%), Poland (22,305 +167%), Colombia (21,470 + 143%),Ecuador (20328 + 17%), Qatar (19648 + 110%), Pakistan (19391 + 128%), Iraq (18315 + 74%), Jordan (17932 + 152%), Argentina (16753 + 695%), Panama (14788 + 89%), Azerbaijan (14018 + 165%), Hong Kong (13558), Japan (13114), France (12972 +45%), Bangladesh (12885), Cambodia (11020 +115%), Nigeria (10695 +156%), Nepal (10208 +23%), and Costa Rica (10,133).
(List of countries or regions from which China exported automobiles of various models — more than 10,000 units, January-May)
