China’s auto exports rose to a record high last year at 5.26 million cars made in China surpassing Japan by more than a million cars as the world’s largest exporter of cars, marking a radical shift in the global automotive industry, The “Wall Street Journal“reports.
The China Passenger Car Association estimated on Tuesday that 5.26 million cars made in China were sold abroad last year, and said This was likely to be about a million more cars than exports of cars made in Japan.
Japan shipped just under four million vehicles abroad during the first 11 months of 2023, according to the country’s latest official data. While China has been recognized globally as a leader in the field of electric vehicles, conventional cars have been the main driver of this increase, with high demand especially in Russia. Chinese automakers took advantage of the vacuum left by the departure of Western automakers after the war in Ukraine, Selling At least five times as many cars there last year compared to 160 thousand cars sold in 2022,
according to the China Passenger Car Association. The export of gasoline-powered cars to markets such as Russia and Mexico, where demand for such vehicles remains resilient, has helped automakers that have been slow to ride the electric wave in China and are facing overproduction at their factories there. Concerns about the possible influx of Chinese cars from companies with excess capacity in China have been growing in recent years in major car markets.
The United States largely blocks Chinese imports by imposing heavy tariffs, while EU regulators in September unveiled an anti-subsidy investigation focused on low-cost electric cars coming from China. Beijing has denounced the EU investigation as protectionist. The next wave of Chinese exports is likely to include more electric and hybrid cars. Manufacturers of these vehicles also saw a surge in overseas shipments last year, and they plan to significantly increase exports now after years of rapid growth in the electric car market in China, after reducing government subsidies to buyers. The Chinese company “BYD” BYD, which ousted Tesla as the world’s largest seller of electric cars in the last quarter of last year, saw a jump in overseas sales almost five times to 242,000 cars in 2023. It is expanding its showrooms across Europe as it targets more sales there this year.
