China comes just shy of Japan as the world’s largest car exporter

BEIJING — China failed to replace Japan as the world’s largest exporter of cars in 2023, despite coming close to doing so, data released this month showed.

Japanese customs data showed the country exported 5.97 million vehicles last year, more than the 5.22 million vehicle exports that China customs data reported.

However, manufacturing association data from both countries showed that China did edge out Japan: 4.14 million passenger car exports versus 3.978 million in 2023, according to figures available online and accessed via Wind Information.

More than 70% of China’s car exports in 2023 were of gasoline-powered vehicles, according to the Ministry of Commerce, noting that new energy vehicle exports were growing rapidly.

Many of those gasoline-powered cars went to Russia, said Sarah Tan, economist at Moody’s Analytics.

“After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many auto manufacturers had left the country only to have that gap filled by Chinese manufacturers,” she said. 

“In the first eleven months of 2023, auto shipments to Russia rose about six times that of 2022 in value terms.”

Mexico was also a major destination for Chinese exports of gasoline-powered cars, Tan said, while auto exports to Belgium and the U.K. were mostly new energy vehicles.

In fact, Mexico was the second-largest destination for Chinese cars after Russia, said Jorge Guajardo, Washington, D.C.-based partner at Dentons Global Advisors and a former ambassador of Mexico to China.

Chinese-made cars have quickly increased their share of Mexico’s auto market, a “new phenomenon” since the central American country has traditionally been highly protective of its auto industry — the top employer in Mexico, Guajardo said in a phone interview.

Ref:  China comes just shy of Japan as the world’s largest car exporter   (cnbc)

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