New-energy vehicles in a factory in Jinzhong, North China's Shanxi Province on September 7, 2022 Photo: VCG

China's exports of passenger cars totaled 1.59 million units in the first nine months, surging 60 percent year-on-year, industry data revealed on Tuesday, indicating that Chinese brands have made a major breakthrough in comprehensively entering the international market.

In September alone, China's exports of passenger cars increased 85 percent year-on-year to 250,000, of which domestic brands' exports grew 88 percent to reach 204,000 vehicles, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Chinese domestic auto brands have made marked breakthroughs in entering the European and American markets, as well as markets of developing countries, and international car brands are increasingly using an export strategy through bases in China, the CPCA said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Domestic brands have gained significant market share in new-energy vehicles (NEVs), with BYD, Changan Auto, Chery and Geely Auto leading the trend, the association said.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the advantages of the resilience of China's automobile supply chain have been proved, with the country's auto exports recording strong growth in the past two years, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the CPCA, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The nation's surging NEV export is a major driver of the overall export growth, Cui said, noting that both the number of exports and average prices of exported NEVs had grown strongly.

For a long time, the auto-making industry is seen as a symbol of industrial power. Traditional industrial powers like the US, Japan and Germany have developed an edge in auto production. Yet, China has become the second largest auto exporter in the world, with great growth potential in the pipeline, Cui noted.

China has surpassed Germany to become the world's second largest auto exporter, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) revealed earlier, citing the export data in the first eight months.

SAIC Motor exported 15,509 NEVs and BYD exported 7,736 NEVs in September, CPCA data showed.

In addition to domestic brands, foreign auto brands have seen growing production in China and growing exports through their Chinese production bases.
 
For instance, Tesla has been exporting a good number of its vehicles produced at its Shanghai Gigafactory to European market since 2020. 

That factory delivered 483,074 vehicles to consumers in the first nine months of 2022, approaching the total number for all of 2021, the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

China has become the largest market for NEVs, with both domestic and foreign brands competing and growing vigorously, experts said. They pointed out that a series of government policies have been supporting the rapid growth of the industry.

Both central and local governments have rolled out new measures to boost the development of auto sector, leading to a consumption peak starting the second half of the year, Wu Shuocheng, a veteran automobile analyst, told the Global Times.

In the first nine months, a total of 16.87 million passenger cars were produced in China, up 18 percent year-on-year, and 14.88 million were sold, up 2.4 percent, CPCA data revealed.

China extended the exemption of purchase taxes on NEVs for another year until the end of 2023 to support the development of the sector and boost consumption, the Ministry of Finance said on September 26.

Per data from the State Taxation Administration, a total of 40.68 billion yuan in vehicle purchase tax on NEVs was exempted from January to July, surging 108.5 percent year-on-year.

With steady policy support, both production and sales of automakers in China are expected to see continuous and strong growth, experts said.

October will be a great time for auto sale, the CPCA said. Moreover, with rapid technology development, Chinese NEV makers have expanded their footprint in overseas markets. 

The entire NEV industrial chain has seen comprehensive development in recent years, which will lay a solid foundation for the sector's future growth, experts said.