According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in November 2022, China exported 370,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 70.51%; the amount was 54.58 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 135.97%. From January to November, China exported 2.984 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 54.9%; the amount was 363.76 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 79.3%.

According to statistics from the Passenger Federation, the export of passenger vehicles (including complete vehicles and CKD) in November this year was 250,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 54%. From January to November, a total of 2.1 million passenger vehicles were exported, an increase of 56%. New energy vehicles accounted for 33 percent of total exports in November. In November, the export of self-owned brands reached 190,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 52%; the export of joint venture and luxury brands reached 62,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 60%.

China's auto exports have surpassed Germany and South Korea, and become the world's second largest auto exporter after Japan. Judging from the characteristics of this year's sales distribution, the "going overseas" of Chinese automobiles probably presents three major characteristics.

First, China's independent brands have achieved continuous breakthroughs in high-end markets such as Europe, Japan, and North America.

In 2022, although the main markets for China's auto exports are from Mexico, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, the Philippines, Russia, Thailand, etc., and there are many underdeveloped countries, the performance of relatively developed countries such as Australia, Belgium, and the United Kingdom has recently improved, and even the Belgian market has Become the incremental core market.

In the first nine months of this year, the total number of vehicles exported by China's own brands to Europe and North America was 191,000 and 56,000, accounting for 27% and 8% respectively, a significant increase compared to the same period last year.

As a symbol of the high-end market, Europe is also one of the most developed regions in the global auto industry. For local car companies, it may be recognized by the European market before they can truly be regarded as internationalized. With the development of technology, Chinese car companies have surpassed foreign car companies in the field of intelligent network connection, so the expansion in the European and American markets has become a strategic choice for car companies.

In addition, China's auto industry itself is constantly developing and maturing, not only with the improvement of technology, but also with the improvement of product quality and brand image, and its attractiveness to foreign users continues to increase. According to analysis, the average export price of Chinese automobiles in 2018 was about 12,900 U.S. dollars, but it has reached 18,900 U.S. dollars now, while the average price of pure electric vehicles has increased more significantly, reaching 25,800 U.S. dollars in August.

Second, the progress of new energy products has greatly promoted the growth of automobile exports.

In November, 82,000 new energy passenger vehicles were exported. More and more Chinese-made new energy product brands are going abroad. With the continuous improvement of overseas recognition and the improvement of service network, the market prospect is promising.

At present, about 130 countries and regions around the world have proposed or are planning to propose carbon neutral targets. Many countries have clearly defined the timetable for banning the sale of fuel vehicles. For example, the Netherlands and Norway have proposed to ban the sale of fuel vehicles in 2025, while France and the United Kingdom plan to ban the sale of fuel vehicles in 2040.

Under the pressure of increasingly stringent carbon emission regulations, countries continue to strengthen policy support for new energy vehicles, and the global demand for new energy vehicles maintains a growth trend, which provides a broad space for my country's new energy vehicles to enter overseas markets.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Association, said: "The export territory of Chinese cars has gradually expanded from the traditional African and Middle East markets to North American and European markets; the products have been upgraded from low-end models to high-end cars in the past. Quality, internal technical quality, and brand marketing capabilities can meet the diverse needs of the global market." Cui Dongshu said.

The European market has also become a major new export destination for many Chinese-made electric vehicles. New energy car companies such as Weilai, Xiaopeng, and Aiways all chose Europe as their first stop when going overseas.

Third, high cost performance is still the core competitiveness, but the export form has changed a lot

Fuel vehicles are still the main export of domestically produced vehicles. Great Wall, Chery, Geely, Changan and other car companies still mainly export fuel vehicles, mainly targeting Southeast Asian, Latin American and African markets.

At the same time, self-owned brands have achieved significant growth in the new energy market and export market, leading traditional car companies have performed well in transformation and upgrading, and traditional car companies such as SAIC Motor, BYD Automobile, and Chery Automobile have significantly increased their brand shares.

China's overseas export models of automobiles are becoming more and more diverse, and have expanded from the past complete vehicle trade to various methods such as building local factories, cross-border brand cooperation, self-built sales channels, and customized development of shared technologies. Many Chinese companies have established overseas R&D, marketing, logistics, parts, manufacturing, finance, and second-hand car supply chain systems for the global market, laying a solid foundation for the overseas development of Chinese auto companies.

Let's take a look at the export situation of mainstream independent car companies from January to November.

SAIC

In November, SAIC Motor sold 111,043 vehicles in overseas markets, a year-on-year increase of 48.75%. From January to November, SAIC sold 883,324 vehicles overseas, a year-on-year increase of 46.4%. Among them, self-owned brands accounted for more than 65% of the overall overseas sales, about 574,000 units; sales of new energy vehicles in overseas markets were 148,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 148.8%.

The self-owned brands of SAIC's passenger car exports are mainly MG brand and Roewe. The sales volume of MG in foreign countries far exceeds that in China. This is because MG was a British brand before, and it has a high reputation and influence in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and other countries and regions.

MG4 Electric (or domestically known as MG MULAN) officially landed in the European market in September this year, and received more than 20,000 orders within three months of its launch. In the first 11 months of this year, MG Europe sold more than 100,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 106%. Among them, sales in continental Europe exceeded 50,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 160%; sales in the UK were nearly 50,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 64%. The product footprint covers 38 countries including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Benelux, Iceland, Ireland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Croatia, and Serbia.

According to the latest pure electric sales data released by EU-EVs in many European countries, the MG brand has continued its upward trend and entered the top ten pure electric markets in many European countries with the results of ranking third in the UK, fourth in Sweden, eighth in Spain, and ninth in Germany.

At present, the MG brand has built more than 790 stores in Europe. In the future, it will further expand sales outlets, enrich the product matrix, improve service quality, and meet the needs of more European consumers.

According to statistics, so far SAIC Motor has 3 R&D and innovation centers in Silicon Valley, London, and Tel Aviv, 3 design centers in London, Munich, and Tokyo, 4 production bases in Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Pakistan, and more than 100 KD factories overseas. Parts production and R&D bases and more than 1,800 marketing and service outlets have basically realized the "full industrial chain going overseas".

Chery Automobile

According to public data, Chery exported 44,464 vehicles overseas in November, an increase of 178.26% year-on-year; from January to November, Chery exported 406,540 vehicles, an increase of 70.9% year-on-year, and exports accounted for 36% of its total sales.

Statistics show that since the beginning of this year, Chery Group has exported more than 50,000 vehicles in four months, and has 11.13 million global users, including more than 2.35 million overseas users. Its Tiggo 8, Tiggo 7, Xingtu Lanyue, Xingtu Lingyun, Jietu X70 and other models went to sea one after another.

In Qatar, where the World Cup kicks off, Chery Tiggo 7 ranks first in the market segment sales in Qatar; in Brazil, the enthusiastic Samba country, Tiggo 8 has served as the state-level reception car for many times. In Chile, where the market share of domestically produced automobiles is as high as 29%, several Chery models are also on the best-selling list.

Chery has ranked first in the export of Chinese brand passenger vehicles for 19 consecutive years. 99% of the exported vehicles are traditional fuel vehicles, including Chery, Xingtu, Jietu and other brands, and 17 models. The most sold overseas models are mainly from cheap Hyundai, Kia and strong brand Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, and Ford to seize more and more market share.

Although Chery is becoming more and more globalized, its main sales countries are Russia, Brazil, Iran, Chile and other third world countries, and the reason why these countries choose Chery is mainly because of its cost performance.

In recent years, Chery has begun to implement the strategy of comprehensively entering the European market, and the first measure is to meet the EU's high standard requirements for automotive products. In September 2018, Chery's European R&D Center in Raunheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, completed preparations for the three core businesses of product design, R&D, and market research and development for the European market.

In January this year, Chery launched a project aimed at selling complete vehicles in EU countries. The specific implementation time and sales products have not yet been determined. In addition to Europe, Chery is also trying to enter the US market, but the process is not smooth.

Great Wall Motor

In November, Great Wall Motors sold 20,088 vehicles overseas, accounting for 23%, a record high and a year-on-year increase of 33.87%. This year, the cumulative overseas sales of Great Wall Motors were 152,884 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 20.36%, a record high.

Great Wall Motors released the "ONE GWM" global brand action plan, which will focus on the GWM brand, and focus on several dimensions such as brand potential, product portfolio, channel scale, efficiency improvement, policy mechanism guarantee, etc., combined with market and industrial policies of different countries and regions , Differentiate the layout of new energy products, and use this to build a localized ecology.

Currently, Great Wall Motors' overseas sales are mainly in Eastern Europe, Australia, South America and Southeast Asia. This year, Great Wall made further efforts in the European/South Asian/ASEAN market. On October 7, the third-generation H6 DHT-PHEV of Great Wall Motor Haval was officially launched in Thailand, and the order exceeded 1,000 in just 40 minutes. It is planned to be delivered to Thai users in mid-November. On October 17, two high-value new energy products, Wei Mocha PHEV and Euler Haomao, were officially launched in Europe. On October 26, Great Wall Motors and SQ Group Huihong Automobile signed a contract to jointly develop the Philippine market. Early next year, Great Wall Motor Haval H6 PHEV will be officially launched in Brazil. In November, Great Wall Motor Haval H6 HEV was officially launched in Lahore, Pakistan, becoming the first locally assembled new energy hybrid vehicle.

Great Wall Motors has successively realized the "multi-level jump" from product export to brand export to overseas and then to ecological export. From the initial pickup export, to the subsequent dealer authorization, and then to the later self-built sales network, it has been continuously upgrading overseas strategy. Now, Great Wall Motors has established sales subsidiaries in Russia, South Africa, and Australia to realize independent market operations.

Now Great Wall Motors has established research and development centers in 10 cities in 7 countries including the United States, Japan, Germany, and Canada, and established full-process vehicle production bases in Thailand, Brazil, and other countries, and has set up production bases in Ecuador, Malaysia, and Tunisia. Owns multiple KD factories.

Next, Great Wall Motors will gradually expand into European markets such as Spain and Sweden, introduce more models, and promote new energy to go overseas.

Geely Automobile

In November, Geely Automobile Group's export sales reached 18,633 vehicles, an increase of about 43% year-on-year, and the export of new energy products accelerated. From January to November, Geely's cumulative export volume reached 178,704 vehicles, an increase of 83% year-on-year.

According to statistics, the terminal sales of Geely Group in the Middle East market increased by 40% year-on-year; the terminal sales in the Asia-Pacific regional market increased by 31% year-on-year; the terminal sales in the Latin American regional market increased by 64% year-on-year;

In addition, from January to November, the pure electric model Geometry C has a market share of 24.3% in the Israeli market, ranking first in the local market. In addition, the first batch of 400 Lynk & Co 01 PHEV models went to Israel, further enriching Geely's overseas new energy product matrix.

In November, Geely Automobile entered into the markets of Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia through strategic cooperation with Grand Automotive Group; signed a contract with VCAG Group to expand the market in the seven Adriatic countries, and deeply cultivated the European market; signed a distribution agreement with GBH Group to jointly develop in Morocco, Côte d'Ivoire, French Réunion and other important African port distribution centers to develop markets.

At the beginning of next year, the Lynk & Co Center in the center of Tel Aviv, Israel will officially open. In the future, Lynk & Co will continue to deploy in markets in Asia-Pacific countries such as Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

BYD

BYD's export sales in November 2022 were 12,318 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 1155%. From January to November this year, a total of 44,596 vehicles were exported, a year-on-year increase of 268.87%.

BYD has entered the passenger car market in more than 35 overseas countries and regions. Asia includes Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Israel, Thailand, India, Nepal, Laos, Mongolia, and Cambodia; Europe includes Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Denmark , Belgium (the next step is to enter the British and French markets); Oceania includes Australia and New Zealand; the Americas include Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Bahamas, Dominia, and Costa Rica; Africa has entered the Mauritius market.

In July this year, BYD passenger vehicles officially entered the Japanese market, and in August announced the entry into Germany and Sweden. In October, three models of Han, Tang and Yuan PLUS were unveiled at the Paris Motor Show and delivered to Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany at the same time. It is reported that before the end of this year, BYD will further develop the French and British markets.

In November 2022, BYD officially announced the launch of two models, Song PLUS DM-i and Yuan PLUS, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In addition, BYD will also launch localized production in Brazil to further promote the globalization of the new energy vehicle industry.

On November 29, BYD debuted two new energy models, Han and Tang, in Mexico, which are expected to be launched in 2023. At the same time, BYD announced that it has reached cooperation with eight Mexican dealers to provide local consumers with high-quality new energy vehicle sales and after-sales services.

During the Thailand International Auto Expo at the end of November, BYD focused on displaying the first model to enter the Thai passenger car market - Yuan PLUS.

Changan Automobile

Changan Automobile's overseas sales in November were 3,876 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 40.4%. The average monthly sales of more than 15,000 vehicles in the first and first 10 months also dropped sharply; from January to November, overseas sales of its own brands were 159,918 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 47.36%.

Since the start of overseas business in 1991, Changan Automobile’s products have been exported to more than 70 countries and regions, among which the sales volume of countries along the “Belt and Road” has reached 91%, forming a multi-million-dollar brand including the Middle East, North Africa, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia. Vehicle-level core market. Among them, it is reported that Changan Automobile ranks first in the export list of Chinese brands in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Peru, Bolivia and other markets. In Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other countries, it ranks among the top five local world brands.

In recent years, under the blessing of brand promotion and globalization strategy, Changan's overseas layout has also been accelerating. In the past three years, its export compound growth rate has exceeded 30%. The market is distributed in South America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions. The export models are mainly based on the CS series and Eado series, and the UNI high-end product series is the breakthrough.

On the one hand, the company's fuel vehicles have been deeply cultivated overseas for many years, and the strength of new products has been significantly improved, and the international recognition has been significantly improved; on the other hand, Changan Automobile will increase investment in product research and development, localized management, and brand building. High-end products, new energy products, etc., open up long-term growth space with high-quality products.

Changan Automobile insists on investing 5% of its sales revenue in technology research and development every year. It has established a global collaborative research and development pattern including "six countries and nine places" including China, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany. , an engineering and technical team of more than 12,000 people, and 16 product innovation research institutes and technology centers.

By 2025, Changan Automobile will build two or three overseas manufacturing bases and complete the first phase of production capacity layout in the global auto market. At the same time, the European headquarters and the North American headquarters will be established in the European and North American markets in due course.