ECG — 2023-04-21
News from ECG
Vehicle exports from China have risen by 71% in the first quarter of the year, hitting 994,000 units as per latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), up from 581,000 units exported in the first three months of 2022. The volume is now over 3.8 times more than vehicle exports in the first quarter of 2020 when Covid-19 devastated the global economy.
Of the total volume of finished, fully built vehicles exported from China in the first quarter, passenger vehicles (PV) accounted for 82.99% of the volume at 825,000 units. While commercial vehicles (CV) exports hit 167,000 units. The vast majority of vehicles exported from China are internal combustion engine (ICE) models, hitting a total of 744,000 units in the first quarter of 2023, marking an annual increase of 61.6% from the 460,300 ICE vehicles exported in the same period in 2022.
The biggest growth comes from the increase in new energy vehicles (NEV) exported, which include pure battery electric vehicles (EVs) and plug in hybrids (PHEVs). In the first quarter of the year the volume of NEVs exported has hit 259,000 units, marking an increase of 109%, more than double the volume exported in the same Q1 period in 2022.
Main Takeaway
The majority of vehicles exported from China, by far, are still ICE models exported to emerging markets accounting for 74.8% of total vehicle exports. The fastest growth segment, however, are the higher value EV models which are imported into markets in Western Europe.
With the surge in sales of higher priced EV models to Europe, the value of China-built vehicle exports hit just over USD 45 billion in 2022, as per data from the ITC. This marked an 84.36% increase in the value of Chinese passenger vehicles exported, with the vehicle logistics hub of Belgium being the top value importer with over USD 5.4 billion worth of PVs imported from China in 2022.
For more information please see the latest ECG Business Intelligence report here.