China’s Global Times reported on the 15th that China surpassed Japan in the first quarter of this year to become the world’s number one automobile exporter.
The Global Times reported that China’s electric vehicle exports are rapidly increasing, so it is expected to increase its share in the global automobile market more rapidly in the future.
The Global Times reported that China’s automobile exports recorded 1.07 million units in the first quarter of this year (January-March), based on data from China’s General Administration of Customs and the Association of Automobile Manufacturers. This is an increase of 58.1% compared to the same period last year.
In contrast, Japan’s exports in the first quarter of this year only recorded 954,000 units. As a result, although quarterly, for the first time in history, China overtook Japan to become the world’s number one car exporter.
Before 2020, China’s annual automobile exports had hovered around 1 million units for about 10 years. Then, by 2021, China’s car exports soared to more than 2 million units, surpassing South Korea and becoming the world’s third-largest car exporter after Japan and Germany.
Since then, in 2022, China’s car exports hit a record high of 3.11 million units, surpassing Germany for the first time to become the world’s second-largest car exporter.
This year, it exceeded 1 million units in the first quarter alone, and is expected to easily exceed 4 million units this year as a whole. As a result, it has already surpassed Japan on a quarterly basis and is expected to overtake Japan on an annual basis as well.
The top 10 countries to which China exports in terms of export volume in the first quarter are Russia, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Japan, Australia, Germany, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and South Korea.
In particular, as exports of new energy vehicles such as electric vehicles, which have become a trend, are rapidly increasing in China, it is expected to increase its global market share even more rapidly in the future.
According to the China Automobile Manufacturers Association, from January to April this year, China’s automobile exports recorded 1.37 million units. Among them, exports of new energy vehicles amounted to 348,000 units, accounting for about 25% of the total. This is a 1.7-fold increase over the previous year.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.