Auto & Transportation

In 2021 and 2022, the increase in international automobile trade exports has been over 1 million vehicles for two consecutive years. From January to April this year, China's automobile exports were 1.494 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 76.5%. "Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting said at a routine press conference recently that China's automobile international trade exports are steadily improving.

Pang Chaoran, an associate researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with reporters, "Currently, China has formed a large-scale and fully equipped automotive industry chain, and its international competitiveness is constantly improving. Especially after fierce internal competition, the current vehicle products have a significant influence in the international trade market, and the export market is gradually leaping from developing countries to developed countries

However, in stark contrast to the rapid development of China's automobile exports, the internationalization of the supporting service industry is not high, and there is insufficient development in cross-border delivery and commerce of related services. In the opinion of the interviewed experts, government departments need to provide strong policy guarantees for the sustained and stable development of automobile exports, while "going global" enterprises themselves need to accelerate the construction of overseas service network systems, improve channel layout, and expand market coverage.

High technology and strong competitiveness

Comprehensive expansion of automobile export coverage

Data shows that China's automobile exports to 204 countries and regions in the world in the first four months, including 13.64 billion US dollars to countries along the "the Belt and Road", an increase of 1.2 times, accounting for 45.9%; Exports to developed economies reached 12.41 billion US dollars, an increase of 1.2 times, accounting for 41.8%.

The reporter learned from Zhongtong Bus that recently, the ceremony for the first batch of 1000 buses exported from Zhongtong Bus to Kyrgyzstan was held in Liaocheng, Shandong Province. This is the largest order for China's bus exports to countries along the "the Belt and Road" this year, and the vehicles will be delivered to Kyrgyzstan Bishkek Public Transport Company. It is understood that the natural gas buses coming off the line this time will be customized and developed by Zhongtong Bus according to local needs. They will use the lightweight full bearing technology and one-step design of Zhongtong Bus, and have the characteristics of large passenger capacity, which can fully meet the demand for vehicles in peak hours.

In addition to fuel powered vehicles, the export of new energy vehicles is also gradually increasing - from January to April, the proportion of new energy vehicles in the overall export value of automobiles increased to 42.9%, contributing 51.6% to the growth of automobile exports. And this export boom continues: on May 15, the first batch of 300 CR-V plug-in hybrid models exported by Dongfeng Honda set sail at Haitong Port in Shanghai, with the destination being Europe. It is expected that they will arrive at Zeebrugge Port in Belgium in late June, and then they will be successively transported to more than 20 countries such as Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Greece, Portugal, etc; Haima 7X-E, the first intelligent pure electric seven seater car of Hainan Haima Automobile Co., Ltd., has recently realized the export of sample cars to the Myanmar market, and has won praise from local dealers and media

Gao Qiang, the marketing director of Zhidian Intelligent New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd., analyzed the reporter and said that under the background of global carbon emissions and carbon neutrality requirements, the demand for new energy vehicles in major countries is constantly increasing. However, due to the epidemic situation and the lagging development plan of international mainstream vehicle enterprises, overseas models are in short supply. The new energy vehicle industry in China is thriving, and its product competitiveness is constantly improving. Since 2021, China's international trade exports of new energy vehicles have made significant breakthroughs, and have achieved good export performance in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

The growth rate of China's new energy vehicle exports continues to climb, closely related to its own competitive advantage. Pang Chaoran stated that China started early in the new energy vehicle industry, and the "three electric" technology has a high global influence, breaking the industry pattern dominated by traditional automobile powers, crossing the traditional "engine+gearbox" technology gap, achieving lane changing overtaking, and achieving new breakthroughs in the internationalization of industry and brand development.

Identify and solve problems

Stabilizing exports requires continuous efforts from multiple parties

"At present, China's automobile export shows a phased trend of rapid growth, but there is still much room for improvement in development quality and efficiency, and there are still some Hard problem of consciousness problems in transportation security, financial services, overseas after-sales, etc." said Shu Jueting.

Zhang Xiang, Dean of the New Energy Vehicle Technology Research Institute of Jiangxi New Energy Technology Vocational College, analyzed to the International Business Daily reporter that in terms of transportation security, China's automobiles are mainly exported through ocean going ships. However, with the rapid growth of exports in the past two years, the sea transportation capacity is clearly insufficient and needs to be supplemented as soon as possible; In terms of financial services, borrowing to buy a car is one of the main payment methods for overseas consumers to buy a car. Many car companies have insufficient understanding of the overseas market and lack financial partners, which is also a weakness; In terms of overseas after-sales service, generally speaking, spare parts related to car repair and maintenance are transported overseas by car companies by sea, resulting in long waiting periods for overseas users to repair and maintain. This aspect requires high attention and corresponding solutions should be proposed as soon as possible. How to solve the above problems, Pang Chaoran believes that on the one hand, it is necessary to actively encourage various business entities to accelerate their "going global" efforts, accelerate the construction of overseas service network systems, and provide effective guarantees for continuously promoting the export of automotive products; On the other hand, it is necessary for government departments to accelerate the efforts of relevant countries to expand their openness to the Chinese market, promote inspection and testing, and mutual recognition of standards, and provide strong policy guarantees for the sustained and stable development of automobile exports.

Shu Jueting said that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will work with relevant departments to focus on the following three aspects: first, strengthen transport security, promote medium - and long-term strategic cooperation between automobile enterprises and shipping enterprises, encourage shipping companies to accelerate the construction of ro ro fleet, and expand automobile export transport capacity. The second is to encourage automobile enterprises to cooperate with domestic and foreign financial institutions, innovate financial products and services under the premise of legal compliance and controllable risks, and better meet the needs of enterprises. The third is to support automobile enterprises in improving their international marketing and after-sales service systems, enhancing their ability to carry out brand promotion, display sales, and after-sales service overseas, and establishing a good brand image.

At the enterprise level, it is highly recommended that car companies reduce export transportation costs by building their own factories overseas, establishing new management teams in the local area, exporting CKD parts, and cooperating with local distributors or establishing joint ventures to improve channel layout, expanding market coverage, enhancing international trade market competitiveness, and achieving high-quality international sustainable development.