“(Chinese auto) annual exports more than Japan is a foregone conclusion,” Japan’s Kyodo News agency quoted the latest data released by the Japan Automobile Industry Association reported that 2023 China’s auto exports are expected to exceed Japan, becoming the world’s first for the first time.
It is worth noting that a number of institutional reports have predicted that China is expected to overtake Japan this year and become the world’s largest auto exporter. 4.412 million units!
Kyodo News 28 from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association learned that from January to November this year, Japan’s car exports were 3.99 million units. According to the previous statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to November, China’s auto exports reached 4.412 million, so China’s annual exports more than Japan is a foregone conclusion.
According to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association and other sources, this is the first time since 2016 that Japan has been knocked off the top spot.
The reason is that Chinese manufacturers have improved their technical capabilities under the support of their government and achieved export growth of low-cost and high-quality pure electric vehicles. In addition, in the context of the Ukraine crisis, exports of gasoline vehicles to Russia have also grown rapidly.
Specifically, according to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to November this year, China’s passenger car exports were 3.72 million, an increase of 65.1%; Commercial vehicle exports were 692,000 units, up 29.8 percent year-on-year. From the perspective of power system type, in the first 11 months of this year, the export volume of traditional fuel vehicles was 3.32 million, an increase of 51.5%. The export volume of new energy vehicles was 1.091 million, up 83.5% year-on-year.
From the perspective of enterprise performance, from January to November this year, among the top ten enterprises in China’s vehicle exports, from the growth point of view, BYD’s export volume was 216,000 vehicles, an increase of 3.6 times. Chery exported 837,000 vehicles, an increase of 1.1 times. Great Wall exported 283,000 vehicles, up 84.8 per cent year-on-year.
China is about to become number one in the world
Kyodo News agency mentioned that China’s auto exports remained at about 1 million units until 2020, and then increased rapidly, reaching 201.15 million units in 2021 and jumping to 3.111 million units in 2022.
Today, exports of “new energy vehicles” from China are not only growing in European markets such as Belgium and the United Kingdom, but also making progress in Southeast Asia, which Japanese companies regard as an important market.
As early as March, Chinese cars showed momentum to catch up. Data show that China’s automobile exports in the first quarter of 1.07 million units, an increase of 58.1%. According to the Japan Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Japan’s auto exports in the first quarter were 954,000 units, an increase of 5.6%. In the first quarter of this year, China surpassed Japan to become the world’s largest auto exporter.
South Korea’s “Chosun Ilbo” at that time published an article lamenting the changes in Chinese car reputation and market share. “Chinese cars were just cheap knockoffs a decade ago… Recently, however, more and more people are saying that not only small cars but also Chinese electric cars have price competitiveness and performance.
“China surpassed South Korea in auto exports for the first time in 2021, surpassed Germany last year to become the world’s second largest exporter, and surpassed Japan in the first quarter of this year,” the report said.
According to Bloomberg’s forecast on the 27th of this month, BYD’s tram sales are expected to surpass Tesla’s in the fourth quarter of 2023 and become the world’s first.
Business Insider is using data to prove this upcoming sales crown handover: in the third quarter of this year, BYD electric vehicle sales are only 3,000 fewer than Tesla, when the fourth quarter of this year data is released in early January next year, BYD is likely to surpass Tesla.
Bloomberg believes that compared with Tesla’s high price, BYD’s high-sales models are more competitive than Tesla in terms of price. The report cited investment agency forecasts that while Tesla still leads BYD in metrics such as revenue, profit and market capitalization, these gaps will narrow significantly next year.
“This will be a symbolic turning point for the electric vehicle market and further confirm China’s growing influence in the global automotive industry.”
China has become the largest exporter of cars
With the steady recovery of demand in the new energy vehicle market, after the export data in the first half of this year, the international rating agency Moody’s released an estimate in August that compared with Japan, the average monthly gap of China’s auto exports in the second quarter was about 70,000 vehicles, far lower than the nearly 171,000 vehicles in the same period last year, and the gap between the two sides is narrowing.
On November 23, a report released by the German automotive market research institute also showed that Chinese automakers continue to perform strongly in the field of electric vehicles.
According to the report, in the first three quarters of this year, Chinese auto companies sold a total of 3.4 million vehicles abroad, and the export volume has surpassed that of Japan and Germany, and is growing rapidly. Electric vehicles accounted for 24% of exports, more than double last year’s share.
Moody’s report believes that in addition to the surging demand for electric vehicles, one of the reasons for the rapid growth of Chinese auto exports is that China has significant advantages in the production cost of electric vehicles.
China produces more than half of the world’s lithium supply, has more than half of the world’s metals, and has lower labor costs compared to competition from Japan and South Korea, the report said.
“In fact, the speed at which China has adopted new technologies in the automotive industry is unparalleled.” Moody’s economists said.
Post time: Jan-04-2024