Chinese vehicle exports above 1.3m in first quarter, reports ECG

Citing data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Caam), the ECG report found that vehicle exports from China are up 33% compared to the same quarter in 2023. The main export markets for those vehicles in January and February were Russia, Mexico, Belgium and the UK. For the whole of 2023 Russia took the majority of vehicle exports from China. China exported 909,000 vehicles to Russia across the year, equal to a 90.9% share of all exports, and an increasing volume are being exported there by rail. 

Full Q1 export market data will be published by Caam later this month but ECG points out that compared to the first two months of 2023 exports to the UK declined by around -27% and to Belgium by -10.6%, which it said could be partly explained by exports from China opening up to other European markets, such as Spain and Italy.

As revealed in this year’s Automotive Logistics annual review of the top-performing vehicle handling ports in Europe, Spanish ports have seen an increase in vehicle imports from China. That includes the port of Barcelona, which has seen a rise in ro-ro and containerised vehicle imports from China.

“Imports from China have grown from almost 0 in 2021, to 52,131 starting in mid-2022, and 99,645 in 2023, registering an annual increase by 91%,” said Lluís París commercial head of the automotive, ro-ro and SSS Bulk division at Port de Barcelona.

Powertrain mix 
Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles made 76.8% of the China exports, with 1,015,000 units exported, according to Caam data. New energy vehicles (NEVs) accounted for 23.2%, with 307,000 units exported in the quarter. However, the Caam data shows that NEV exports strengthened in March, increasing to 124,000 units up from just 82,000 exported in February.

Chinese carmaker Chery had the greatest share of total vehicle exports across the first quarter with 253,000 units, followed by SAIC (206,000), Changan (145,000) and Geely (111,000).

ECG said will be updating members on the latest vehicle export figures from China to Europe at its annual General Assembly which takes place on May 23-24 in Baveno, Italy.