Nearly 5,000 of SAIC's MG-branded vehicles wait to be exported at the port of Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province on Sunday. The vehicles are headed to markets including the UK, Australia and Belgium. The port's auto export business has grown rapidly this year. Photo: cnsphoto

At the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) which is being held in Beijing, around 90 companies related to the smart vehicle supply chain have joined the expo. From tire production and lithium mining to vehicle manufacturing, participating companies cover all areas in the manufacturing of new energy vehicles (NEVs). 

With a rapidly expanding market, many foreign automakers have joined the expo, also the world's first supply chain-themed expo, to learn about advanced NEV technologies and deepen cooperation with their Chinese peers, the Global Times learned. Industry insiders predict that China's complete industry chain will help the country become the world's largest auto exporter this year.

In the field of NEV batteries and intelligent driving, Chinese manufacturers are leading the world, and many foreign carmakers will visit China for the exhibition, where they will study the products of Chinese companies, a staffer from Swedish automaker Volvo told Global Times on Wednesday at the exhibition section of Volvo.

Production in China is very important to Volvo. Many Volvo models are made in China and exported to the European and US markets, such as the S60 and S90 models produced in Daqing, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and the X60 models produced in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

While foreign automakers have been in a rush to expand factory capacity in China, domestic vehicle makers have been capturing overseas markets with the country's edge in a complete industry chain and high level of production, the Global Times learned from expo attendees.

In the first half of this year, Dongfeng Motor's exports more than doubled year-on-year. The rapid rise reflected the fast pace of exports of China's NEVs in the past two years, an engineer of Dongfeng Motor told the Global Times on Wednesday at the CISCE.

Dongfeng Motor mainly exports to Europe and also targets the Middle Eastern market. In the past, Chinese auto companies learned from the West, but now car companies in Western countries are cooperating with Chinese companies in terms of NEV technology, the engineer said.

China's automobile exports reached 3.9 million units from January to October this year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The country is expected to surpass Japan to become the world's top automobile exporter in 2023. 

Beijing's Shunyi district, where the CISCE is being held, also offers a vivid display of the fast-track development and upgrading of China's NEV industry in recent years. The district now houses more than 150 companies covering the complete NEV supply chain from vehicle and component production to research, financing, sales and autonomous driving. 

As of the end of 2022, the region had produced a total of 12.77 million vehicles and its output had reached 1.3 trillion yuan ($188 billion).