China's automobile exports have shown significant growth in recent years, with the export volume reaching 5.22 million units in 2023, nearly 800,000 more than Japan's, making China the world's largest automobile exporter. According to DIGITIMES Research, this growth is characterized by rising export volume and value, electric vehicles becoming mainstream models, and diversified export markets.
In the past, Japan was a major automobile-exporting country until China overtook it in 2023, when China's automobile exports reached 5.22 million units, surpassing Japan by nearly 800,000 units. Historical data shows that China's automobile exports broke the one million mark in 2018 and began gaining momentum until after 2021, with the export volume for 2023 being 4.5 times higher than that of 2018.
The rapid growth was attributed to the saturation of the Chinese automobile market and changes in the structure of export vehicles and regions. These changes also led to the rise of the average export price of Chinese automobiles to CNY137,000 (US$19,180) in 2023.
Chart 1: China and Japan auto export volumes, 2018-2023 (k units)
Chart 2: China and Japan auto export volumes and on-year growth, 2018-2023 (k units)
Table 1: Key factors affecting China automobile export volumes
Chart 3: China average automobile and EV export prices, 2018-2023 (CNYk)
Chart 5: China EV export volumes and share of automobile volumes, 2018-2023 (k unit)
Chart 6: China and global EV market penetration rate, 2020-2024
Table 2: China automobile export volumes to top-10 countries, 2023 (k units)
Chart 7: China share of automobile export to top-10 countries by vehicle type, 2023
Table 3: China e-passenger vehicle export volumes to top-10 countries, 2023 (k units)
Table 4: China automobile export volumes by top-10 automakers, 2023 (k units)
Table 5: Export deployment of key automakers in China, 2023 (k units)
