According to a recent report published by CarNewsChina, vehicle exports from China recorded between Jan to Aug 2024 have reached a total of 4.09 million units.
A total of 610,000 vehicle exports were recorded last month (Aug 2024) alone, marking a massive 39% year-on-year (YoY) growth. Altogether, China’s vehicle exports have grown by 27% thus far as well.
Notably, Chinese Customs data indicate that Russia is now China’s largest overseas auto market and accounts for more than 19% of its total auto exports in Aug 2024. China’s auto exports to Russia last month also charted a record value totalling at US$1.6 billion (approx. RM6.62 billion), and total year-to-date (YTD) exports stands at 705,514 units.
Much of this stems from the void created by sanctions against Russia over the still unresolved Russia-Ukraine conflict. Prior to the sanctions mentioned, China’s auto exports to Russia totalled at just 160,000 units in 2022 before increasing dramatically by 459% to 910,000 units in 2023. Expect this figure to continue increasing by year’s end too.
China’s second biggest auto export market is Mexico, which saw 323,540 vehicles exported between Jan to Aug this year, whilst UAE ranks third with 203,048 vehicles exported from China in the same time frame. Notable too is Belgium, which stands as China’s biggest European export market and fifth largest global export market with 182,504 vehicles exported.
Additionally, Belgium also stands as China’s largest overseas New Energy Vehicle (NEV) export market. Despite disruptions in the form of increased import tariffs by the European Union, Chinese automakers were still able to export 170,876 NEVs to Belgium in the first eight month of this year.
Whilst on the subject of NEVs, which encompasses fully or partially-electrified models, Chine exported a total of 1.397 million units from Jan to Aug this year. The export volume of NEVs from China in Aug 2024 alone totalled at 180,000 units, thus marking a YoY growth of 20.9% and a month-on-month (MoM) rise of 2.9%.
Additionally, CarNewsChina notes that pure electric (EV) passenger car exports from China recorded from Jan to Aug this year mainly grew in Brazil, Belgium, Indonesia and Mexico. It further notes that markets such as Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Slovenia, as well as neighbouring Thailand, all experienced decline instead.
Lastly, the same report also detailed that NEV exports have fuelled some Chinese cities and regions at becoming major auto export hubs. Amongst those recorded with strong NEV exports include Guangdong, Shaanxi, Hebei, and Jiangsu.
A key example here is how BYD’s rise drove development of NEV industries in Shaanxi. Said region stands one of BYD’s largest production bases, with a planned annual production capacity of 1.5 million vehicles.
