China has surpassed Germany to become the world’s second-largest car exporter after exports increased by 54.4% year-on-year to 3.11 million vehicles in 2022, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). China is closing in on Japan’s export volume, and is likely to become the world’s top car exporter in the coming years, analysts said. According to MarkLines, an auto industry data provider, Japanese carmakers exported 3.2 million vehicles in the first 11 months of 2022, almost unchanged from a year earlier. In 2021, Japan exported 3.82 million cars, and it is expected to post a year-on-year decline once its full-year results are tallied. Germany exported 2.61 million cars last year, up 10% from 2021, according to the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).
“The strong growth momentum in China’s car exports has helped the nation to earn a reputation as a powerful carmaker, as its passenger and commercial vehicles are well received by people outside the mainland,” said Cao Hua, Partner at private-equity firm Unity Asset Management. “China’s electric cars have won considerable market share in some developing nations and will eventually propel the country into the top position of the world’s major auto exporters.” Exports accounted for 11.5% of China’s total 2022 production of passenger cars and commercial vehicles, which rose 3.4% year-on-year to 27 million. China’s car market, the world’s largest since 2009, has long been dominated by foreign brands such as Volkswagen, General Motors, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. However, the country’s indigenous brands, such as BYD and Geely, are selling well, supported by a robust automotive supply chain.
Electric vehicles (EVs) have become a significant factor in China’s car exports, with EV shipments surging 120% year-on-year to 679,000 in 2022, CAAM data showed. Citic Securities forecast in a research report last month that China’s car export volume could hit 5.5 million units in 2030, of which 2.5 million cars would be electric.
UBS analyst Paul Gong said that Chinese EV builders have been racing ahead of their Japanese and South Korean rivals to tap Southeast Asian markets and also have plans to set up production bases and promote their vehicles there. “It is not just the beginning of the Chinese carmakers’ global push,” said Gong. “They are already the established market leaders in some Southeast Asian countries.” BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, dethroned Tesla as the world’s largest EV maker in the second quarter of 2022, the South China Morning Post reports.
