Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

In the first 10 months of this year, China's automobile export hit a new high, and the export of new energy vehicles increased by 96.7% year on year——

Domestic cars "step up" and drive to the world

In the first 10 months of this year, China's auto market has been moving steadily against the pressure of lack of core, rising prices of raw materials, and the impact of epidemic. According to the data recently released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's automobile exports reached a new high of 2.615 million from January to October, including 109000 new energy vehicles in October, up 1.2 times month on month and 81.2% year on year.

Experts believe that the improvement of market share of both guaranteed supply and independent brands is due to the improvement of China's automobile industry chain. Chinese cars are selling well overseas, and foreign capital has increased its presence in the Chinese auto market, which means that "Made in China" is increasingly recognized.

Speed up the pace of expanding the global market

"There used to be many Nissan and American cars on the street, but now there are also some strange cars. After asking, they were originally Chinese cars." Li Peizhen, who lives in Bataling Jaya, Malaysia, told reporters that her city is more prosperous, and it has been nearly a year or two since she saw Chinese cars appear more frequently. "Mainly new energy vehicles, beautiful models, friends said that the quality is also good, the price is similar to other imported vehicles, but the cost performance ratio is relatively high." Li Peizhen is very confident about "Made in China", she said that if the budget for next year's car change is sufficient, she is willing to consider Chinese cars. "I hope Chinese cars can open the Malaysian market more quickly."

The gradual increase in the recognition of Chinese cars among overseas consumers is a direct result of the accelerated "sailing" of domestic cars. According to the data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in October, China's automobile export hit a new high. In that month, the export of automobile enterprises reached 337000, up 12.3% month on month and 46% year on year. From January to October, automobile enterprises exported 2.456 million vehicles, up 54.1% year on year. "This number has surpassed Germany and is second only to Japan, ranking second in the world." Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, predicted that the total number of Chinese automobile exports this year is expected to exceed 3 million.

By category, in October, 279000 passenger cars were exported, up 11.6% month on month and 40.7% year on year. From January to October, 1.975 million passenger cars were exported, with a year-on-year growth of 57.1%; In October, 59000 commercial vehicles were exported, up 15.5% month on month and 77.5% year on year; In October, 109000 new energy vehicles were exported, an increase of 1.2 times month on month and 81.2% year on year. From January to October, 499000 new energy vehicles were exported, up 96.7% year on year.

By model, fuel vehicles are still the main export force of domestic vehicles. Data shows that in the first 10 months of this year, 1.957 million fuel vehicles were exported, accounting for about 80%. Previously, the exports of Great Wall, Chery and other auto enterprises were mainly fuel vehicles, mainly targeting Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Where to export?

Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference, analyzed to reporters that from January to October this year, the markets with relatively large vehicle export growth were Europe, North America and Asia, with Mexico, Belgium, Saudi Arabia and other places in the majority. In October, the markets in Chile and Bangladesh declined significantly, while the markets in Mexico and the Philippines showed relatively strong performance. Belgium became the key market for incremental growth.

Which car companies are popular?

According to the data released by the China Automobile Association, in the first 10 months of this year, SAIC exported 684000 vehicles among the top ten Chinese enterprises in vehicle exports, ranking first. Chery and Chang'an also exported more than 200000 vehicles in the same period; In terms of growth rate, Geely's export volume in the same period was 160000 vehicles, up 86% year on year, with the most obvious growth rate. Among the unlisted auto companies, BYD showed amazing performance.

"It can be seen that the export territory of Chinese cars has gradually expanded from the traditional African and Middle East markets to the North American and European markets; the products have been upgraded from the low-end models to high-end vehicles, and can meet the needs of the global diversified market in terms of appearance quality, internal technical quality and brand marketing ability," Cui Dongshu said.

The export of new energy vehicles performed well

According to the data of the International Automobile Manufacturers Association, 20 years ago, the world's automobile export volume was 22.1 million, while Germany and Japan's automobile export volume exceeded one million, while China's automobile export volume was only 43100. Xu Haidong told reporters that in the past 10 years, China's automobile export volume has been fluctuating at 1 million vehicles. However, last year, the automobile export exceeded 2 million vehicles, doubling, and in the first 10 months of this year, it achieved a growth of more than 50%.

Why are Chinese cars favored by foreign consumers?

According to Xu Haidong, in the short term, there are two reasons. First, the overseas market is gradually recovering and the overall environment is getting better; Second, China's supply chain is more perfect than that of overseas automobiles, which is also a good opportunity for domestic automobiles to explore overseas markets. In the long run, the competitiveness of China's automobile products has been greatly improved. "We have not only improved our design ability, but also paid great attention to customer experience. We have done a very good job in product appearance design, quality control and management, greatly improved our technical innovation and integration capabilities, and innovated our service system," said Xu Haidong.

Secondly, overseas export models are increasingly diversified. Chinese automobile enterprises have expanded from the past vehicle trade to local factory building, cross-border brand cooperation, self built sales channels, customized development of shared technologies and other ways. However, many Chinese enterprises have established overseas automobile industry chain supply chain systems facing the global market, such as R&D, marketing, logistics, parts, manufacturing, finance and second-hand cars, which have laid a solid foundation for the overseas development of Chinese automobile enterprises.

Thirdly, Chinese auto enterprises pay more and more attention to brand building. Product price is a direct reflection of brand premium. Xu Haidong introduced that from the average price of China's automobile exports, the average price in 2018 was US $12900, and then gradually increased to US $16400 this year, reaching US $18900 in August. Among them, the average price of pure electric vehicles increased more significantly, reaching 25800 dollars in August.

In addition, the outstanding performance of new energy vehicles has become an important force driving high-quality export growth.

"By the end of October, the overseas sales of Great Wall Motor had exceeded 130000 vehicles this year, with a year-on-year growth of 18.55%, especially electric vehicles, which have become a new growth pole for our exports." Fu Xiaokang, vice president of Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd., told reporters that Great Wall has covered Europe, ASEAN, the Middle East, South America, Oceania, South Africa and other markets. The company has also established full process vehicle production bases in Thailand and Brazil, The global R&D system is gradually advancing.

The European market has become a major new export destination for many Chinese electric vehicles. According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs, in the first half of 2022, the Western European market accounted for 34% of the exports of new energy passenger vehicles, and Belgium was the country with the largest number of new energy vehicles imported from China in the first half of 2022.

Since this year, China's major ports have witnessed the accelerated "sailing" of China's electric vehicles and related industrial chains: in the first three quarters, Tianjin's export of electric vehicles increased by 667.7% year-on-year; The export of electric manned vehicles at Ningbo Port surged 12.3 times; The total export of electric manned vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells in Shanghai increased by 143.3%

"The production and sales volume of new energy vehicles in China has ranked first in the world for many consecutive years, entering a period of comprehensive market expansion." Cui Dongshu said, "The great changes in China's automobile manufacturing industry in the past 20 years, from the market in the era of traditional fuel vehicles to the technology 'introduction', to the current 'going global' of new energy vehicles, mean a new rise of China's high-end manufacturing industry. In the future, with the continuous maturity of new energy vehicle technology, domestic automobile enterprises represented by BYD, SAIC, Geely, Great Wall, Chery, etc. will further change the original international automobile market pattern 。”

"I believe the auto market will be stable next year"

After the rapid growth of automobile exports, how can the automobile industry really "go global"?

Many experts believe that the simple "going out" is no longer suitable for the needs of market development at this stage. It is necessary to explore a more in-depth and broad "going to sea" model that breaks through trade barriers between countries and is more international as soon as possible. "In the past, the mode of vehicle export was mainly used, and there would be a clear ceiling in sales." Guan Mingyu, global managing partner of McKinsey and head of McKinsey's automobile business in Greater China, said, "Foreign trade export is switching from a single mode to a variety of modes, such as building factories overseas, such as purchasing brands overseas, and even bringing the entire Chinese brand abroad." Guan Mingyu suggested, Chinese automobile enterprises and parts enterprises need to find ways to join forces and explore overseas markets together.

From the perspective of consumers, Chinese auto brands still have great potential in overseas markets. "When I search for 'China brand car' or 'Made in China car in Malaysia' on the Internet, I can find the most relevant news about Chinese cars entering the market, rather than the official purchase entrance of the brand in Malaysia, such as the brand's official website." Li Peizhen said, "It seems that there is still a lot of room for Chinese cars to develop in the Malaysian market."

How do you see the trend of automobile export?

"With the improvement of the competitiveness of China's automobile products, Chinese automobile enterprises began to go out with great confidence. From the brand to the whole system, China's automobile export has entered a new stage." In Xu Haidong's view, the above factors will also support the long-term growth of China's automobile export in the future.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other three departments jointly issued the Notice on Consolidating the Recovery and Strengthening the Industrial Economy, which proposed 17 specific measures. Specifically, we will further expand auto consumption, implement preferential policies such as halving the purchase tax on passenger cars with a displacement of 2.0 liters or less, and extending the exemption of purchase tax on new energy vehicles, and launch a pilot city for fully electrified vehicles in the public sector.

Xu Haidong believes that with the implementation of the above 17 policies and measures, the auto market can be stabilized in the fourth quarter and next year. He predicted that in the future, China's overseas production of automobiles will reach about 10 million and domestic production and export of automobiles will reach about 5 million. The time to achieve this goal is about 2031. "The basis for achieving this goal is to improve the competitiveness of domestic cars, build brands and increase long-term direct investment," said Xu Haidong. (Reporter Kong Dechen)