China exported 3.11 million vehicles in 2022, now it's chasing Japan

China increased its vehicle exports by more than 54 percent in 2022, compared to the previous year. That was enough to propel the country into second place globally, in terms of auto exports.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reports that the country shipped 3.11 million vehicles to foreign countries last year. That was significantly more than Germany, previously the second-largest exporter, which sold only 2.61 million vehicles in international markets last year, an increase of 10 percent over 2021.

China is now chasing Japan, which is in the top spot. Although Japan’s full-year results aren’t available yet, it shipped more than 3.2 million vehicles abroad in the first 11 months of 2022.

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Japan, though, is expected to have exported fewer vehicles last year than it did in 2021 when it shipped 3.82 million vehicles to foreign markets. With China’s rapidly growing exports, and Japan’s shrinking volumes, the former is expected to take over as the world’s biggest exporter of automobiles in the near future, analysts told the South China Morning Post.

Citic Securities predicts that China may export as many as 5.5 million vehicles by 2030, with 2.5 million of those being electric. That will be facilitated by the country’s efforts to introduce its vehicles to South Asian markets, as well as in developing nations.

China is also taking the lead in electric vehicle sales. BYD became the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in the second quarter of 2022, overtaking Tesla. It is now selling in Norway, Singapore, Brazil, and India.

China’s manufacturers have taken a controlling share of their own domestic market. Home to about 200 EV makers, homegrown EVs controlled nearly 85 percent of the market in 2022.