Overseas shipments of domestically made cars have tripled over the past three years
Yantai Port on January 18, 2023 in Yantai, Shandong Province of China © Getty Images / VCG / Contributor
Shipments of automobiles from China to international markets topped 2.5 million units in 2022, making it the world’s third biggest exporter of cars, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, citing data from the China Passenger Car Association.
China’s numbers came in behind Japan and Germany, but ahead of the US and South Korea, signaling the emergence of a strong challenger to the established automaking giants.
Chinese brands are currently among the best-selling in the Middle East and Latin America. In Europe, electric models from Tesla and Chinese-owned former European brands (as well as European brands such as Dacia Spring and the BMW iX3) account for most Chinese-made automobiles.
A wide range of homegrown brands such as BYD and Nio have gained in popularity as well. Backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, BYD has been winning markets in developed countries such as Australia with its electric vehicles.
According to separate data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China’s mainland exports of vehicles saw an enormous year-on-year surge of 54.4%, and amounted to 3.11 million units in 2022 – making it the world’s second-largest car exporter after Japan.
READ MORE: China’s EV exports hit record high on European demand – Bloomberg
Japanese automakers shipped 3.2 million vehicles to international markets in the first 11 months of 2022, almost unchanged from a year earlier, according to MarkLines, an auto industry data provider.
Meanwhile, Germany sold 2.61 million cars last year, marking a 10% surge year-over-year, according to the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).
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