April 2025, China’s auto exports continue to climb, with new energy vehicles becoming the mainstay of growth, showing a very different trend from traditional fuel vehicles.
In the two segments of passenger cars and commercial vehicles, the strong performance of new energy products (plug-in hybrids) further consolidated China’s position in the global electric vehicle industry chain.Exports of traditional fuel vehicles, on the other hand, weakened as a whole, facing a slowdown or even a decline in growth, reflecting an accelerated switch in the structure of overseas markets.
Behind the data, there is a deep shift in global consumption trends, and Chinese car companies’ overseas strategy is increasingly focusing on the high value-added and technology-driven new energy track.
A small increase in total exports.
Trend of structural differentiation emerges
In April 2025, China’s vehicle exports reached 517,000 units, up 2% sequentially and 2.6% year-on-year.
◎ Under the seemingly flat overall figures, the share of new energy vehicle exports continued to climb, accounting for 38.7 percent of the total to 200,000 units.
◎ Exports of conventional fuel vehicles amounted to 317,000 units, while their share dropped to 61.3%.
Looking at the cumulative figures from the beginning of the year to the end of April, exports totaled 1,937,000 units, up 6 percent year-on-year.
◎ New energy models exported 642,000 units, accounting for 33.1 percent of the total, compared with the same period last year, a significant increase.
The most contrasting change is reflected in the year-on-year growth rate.Exports of new energy vehicles grew by as much as 52.6% year-on-year, compared with a 7.9% year-on-year decline in fuel vehicles.
This scissor difference was even more dramatic in April, with new energy vehicles up 76% year-on-year and fuel vehicles down 18.7%. The continued maturation of new energy technologies and products is gradually replacing traditional vehicles as the main export force.
This divergent trend points to a central fact: the total export volume is apparently stable, new energy can hold up half of the sky in the future, if this part of the growth is stripped away, the traditional export path has been difficult to maintain the strong position in the past.
Passenger cars are still the mainstay of exports.
Exports of 431,000 units in April were up 5 percent from a year earlier and up a modest 0.4 percent from a year earlier.
In terms of cumulative data, exports from January to April amounted to 1.609 million units, up 4.6% year-on-year.
In this, the performance of new energy passenger cars is particularly bright.
Exports reached 190,000 units in April, up 28.2% sequentially and 70.6% year-on-year;
Cumulative exports of 609,000 units, a 48% jump year-on-year, has accounted for 37.9% of total passenger car exports.
In other words, the incremental increase in exports came almost entirely from new energy products.
The explosive growth of new energy passenger cars is gradually rewriting the value image of Chinese cars in overseas markets.It has shifted from the traditional label driven by cost performance to the brand power output driven by science and technology and green.
China’s new energy vehicles in Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and other markets acceptance is rising, traditional fuel passenger car exports are flat or even low, demand elasticity tends to weaken, price competition is fierce and profit margins are compressed.
Commercial Vehicle Sector
Exports in April were 86,000 units, down 10.9 percent from a year earlier but up 15.3 percent from a year earlier.
The cumulative total reached 327,000 units from January to April, up 13.7 percent year-on-year.
Both trucks and buses showed varying degrees of growth, among other things:
Truck exports of 75,000 units, an increase of 15.7%;
Passenger cars exported 11,000 units, up 12.4% year-on-year.
Cumulatively, trucks and buses exported 282,000 units and 45,000 units respectively, up 14.4% and 9.7% year-on-year.
Compared with passenger cars, commercial vehicle exports performed more robustly, supported by global demand for infrastructure, logistics and public transportation.
Among new energy models, exports reached 200,000 units in April, up 27 percent from a year earlier and 76 percent from a year earlier.
Plug-in hybrid vehicle exports of 60,000 units, up 8.3% from a year earlier and 1.4 times year-on-year, the growth momentum is extremely strong;
Pure electric vehicles exported 140,000 units, up 37% sequentially and 57.5% year-on-year.
From the cumulative January to April data, the new energy vehicle exports of 642,000 units, an increase of 52.6% year-on-year.
Plug-in hybrids exported 212,000 units, up a whopping 154.5% year-on-year;
Pure electric vehicles were 430,000 units, an increase of 27.5%.
Plug-in technology path has been gradually recognized in overseas markets in recent years, especially in Europe and Southeast Asia’s middle and high-end market performance is outstanding, and has become an important hand for car companies to break through the pure electric bottleneck and seize the policy window.
The growth rate of plug-in hybrid exports far exceeds that of pure electric, which also reflects to some extent the realistic feedback from overseas markets on issues such as range anxiety and insufficient charging infrastructure.Plug-in hybrid products, which are compatible with oil and electricity, are becoming the fastest-growing category in the export structure, opening up a broader market space for new energy vehicles.
Comparison of exports
In the first four months of 2025, the export data of China’s major car companies showed a clear divergence trend.
Chery continued to be No. 1 in exports with 341,000 units, demonstrating its robustness in deepening its presence in overseas markets.
BYD followed, exporting a total of 292,000 units, maintaining a high growth momentum driven by new energy models.
SAIC, on the other hand, remained stable with 271,000 units, reflecting its mature global layout capability.
The above three are the first echelon, exported for the whole month of April is 88,000, 79,000 and 77,000 respectively, the difference is not big.
JAC, Dongfeng and BAIC are in the second tier, with overall monthly fluctuations.
The exports of Changan, Geely and Great Wall from January to April were 202,000, 139,000 and 123,000 units, respectively. Changan is still resilient overall despite a pullback in April.Geely and Great Wall maintained a steady rise, stable performance.
Tesla China exported 68,000 units, slightly less than the same period last year due to the product cycle and the pace of the European market.
The list of best-selling models in China’s auto exports in April shows that
BYD Song PLUS led the way with 21,800 units, a year-on-year surge of 281%, and became a deserved “overseas hit”.BYD’s Sea Lion 07EV, Song Pro and Seagull also made the list.
The MG ZS performed solidly, continuing to support SAIC’s export mainstay with 16,200 units and 65% year-on-year growth.
And the Model Y surged 149%, hedging against a decline in Model 3 exports, suggesting that Tesla is realigning its export model mix.
Traditional fuel vehicles such as the Ruihu 5X, MG3, Colorado, and Haval Primrose all declined year-on-year, indicating an accelerating shift in export market preference for electrified and hybrid products.
Text source: Zenon Motors
