China's Auto Exports Top 1 Million for Third Straight Month

Phoenix News — China's auto exports continued to surge in August, with monthly shipments exceeding 1 million vehicles for the third consecutive month, underscoring the growing role of overseas markets in supporting the country's auto industry.

China exported 1.01 million vehicles in August, up 65.3 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on September 10. Exports declined 3.2 percent from July. New energy vehicle exports reached 526,000 units, up 134.8 percent from a year earlier, although they fell 5 percent month-on-month.

The strong export performance came as China's overall auto market remained under pressure. Domestic auto sales fell 24.2 percent year-on-year in August to 1.70 million units.

Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the CAAM, said auto exports have continued to grow rapidly and are increasingly acting as a "stabilizer" for China's auto industry. He added that the country's auto exports are shifting from a period of short-term volume expansion to a phase of more stable scale.

In the first eight months of the year, China exported 7.153 million vehicles, up 66.7 percent year-on-year. New energy vehicle exports surged 1.2 times to 3.435 million units. Total auto sales reached 20.315 million units in the period, down 3.8 percent year-on-year, with NEV sales rising 10.7 percent to 10.65 million units, accounting for 52.4 percent of total new vehicle sales.

Chen said companies now need to move from "selling products" to "building systems" overseas, turning their first-mover advantages into longer-term market shares. The shift points to a broader change in the globalization of China's auto industry, as automakers increasingly invest in overseas sales networks, manufacturing capacity, after-sales services, and localized operations rather than relying solely on vehicle exports.