Foreign automakers, once content to manufacture and sell in China, are turning their joint-venture factories into global export hubs, tapping the world’s largest auto market for cost advantages and advanced local technology as they seek to boost competitiveness. Nissan is among those using China as a production and innovation springboard to enhance competitiveness in overseas markets. The Japanese automaker will soon ship the N7 sedan, made by Dongfeng Nissan, to Latin America and Southeast Asia. The Frontier Pro pickup will also go to those regions plus the Middle East, with NX8 SUV exports planned. “These products are good not only for China. The technologies, the speed of development and the cost that we have achieved in the China ecosystem can play a very important role for us overseas,” Nissan Chief Executive Ivan Espinosa said at Auto China 2026 in Beijing in late April. The automaker has set up an import-export joint venture in China with a short-term export target of more than 100,000 units and a longterm goal of around 300,000.
For South Korea’s largest auto group, Hyundai Motor, China is not only a production base and R&D center, but will become a hub for launching new products to other markets, President and CEO Jose Munoz said. The automaker will deploy cutting-edge technologies in China and expects to leverage the Chinese market to popularize these technologies and export them to other regions, he added.
Germany’s Volkswagen is also evaluating China as an export base. By partnering with local companies including XPeng, Horizon Robotics, Gotion and CATL, Volkswagen is accelerating its move to smart electric vehicles, reducing development time by 30% and development costs by 40%. Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume said in late April that considering cost positioning and the technological advantages, Volkswagen aims to provide products and services to the Southern hemisphere from China. SAIC Volkswagen’s ID. ERA 9X, the German automaker’s first extended-range electric model that features Momenta’s driving assistance system and CATL’s battery, will also be exported to Germany in the future, the automaker announced at the SUV’s launch event in late April.
Yale Zhang, Managing Director of Shanghai-based consulting firm Automotive Foresight, said that China has emerged as a global leader in electrification and intelligent driving technologies, becoming indispensable for foreign automakers striving to catch up in the new energy vehicle race. “By relying on China to develop new models, foreign automakers gain both superior product capabilities and the cost benefits of China’s powerful industrial chain,” he added. “It’s a smart move with good prospects.”
In 2025, the market share of joint-venture brands in China plummeted to around 30%, a sharp drop from the 60% to 70% they held at their peak around 2014. This decline has directly squeezed sales volumes and left significant factory capacity idle. Some plants have even been forced to shut down, yet exports have effectively revitalized this unused capacity, the China Daily reports.
