Russia Becomes Largest Importer of China-made Cars in First Two Months of 2023

Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, March 28 (TMTPOST) —— China exported 680,000 vehicles in the first two months of 2023, a 39% increase over the same period last year, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

China’s auto exports continued to gain momentum in January and February 2023. Fuel vehicles accounted for a large percentage of total automobile exports, with new energy vehicles making up 37.79% of the total. In terms of export destinations, Russia is currently China’s largest auto export market in 2023.

According to the chart in the report, China’s car exports to Russia rose sharply in the first two months of this year compared with the same period last year. In just two months, China exported nearly 80,000 vehicles to Russia, nearly half of last year’s total, according to the federation.

The export volume of passenger cars was the largest among the passenger cars exported to Russia in February, reaching more than 40,000 units. While the export volume of all-wheel-drive SUVs surged 1059% year-on-year to 5,702 units. In addition, the export of tractors and heavy trucks to Russia also surged in the same month.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the CPCA, pointed out that this marks a great change for Chinese car exports. Chinese brands entered the Russian market fifteen years ago and made great achievements, but after Russia imposed tariffs on Chinese cars, Chinese brands withdraw from Russia. When other countries pulled out of Russia after 2022, the supply gap in Russia was quickly filled by Chinese automakers.

In terms of the export of new energy vehicles, 257,000 new energy vehicles were exported from January to February in 2023, with a year-on-year growth of 57%.

Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain, and other European countries are still the main export destinations of China’s new energy vehicles and have maintained relatively fast growth. China’s new-energy vehicle exports to Spain have reached nearly half of that of the whole of last year in the first two months of 2023, while exports to the Netherlands surged 1,568 percent year on year.

Tesla China remains the leading exporter of new energy vehicles, with 40,479 units exported in February. It was followed by SAIC Motor, which exported 16,827 new energy vehicles in February, making it the largest exporter of new energy vehicles in China except for Tesla China. BYD continued to advance its overseas expansion. The export of passenger cars reached 15,000 units in February, up 44.1% from the previous month and hitting a new record high.

With the export of wholly owned automobile enterprises, China’s automobile export to developed European markets made a great breakthrough from 2021 to early 2022. New energy vehicles are the core growth point of China’s automobile export, which has changed the passive situation of automobile export relying on some poor countries and non-regulated countries in Asia and Africa.

After a sharp decline in the global economic downturn from 2013 to 2016, China’s export gradually stabilized and improved from 2017 to 2020, with annual exports maintaining an average of about 1 million units per month. Exports in 2020 reached 1.08 million units, down 13 percent year on year.

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