The Association of European Vehicle Logistics (ECG) reports there has been 25% increase in global vehicle exports from China but EU has imported fewer EVs in first nine months of 2024 

fotografia aeria barcelona   infraestructures port DE BARCELONA

Barcleona port imported a significant volume of China-made EVs last year

In 2023, around 80% of the Chinese imported vehicles through Barcelona were electric or hybrid, which represent almost 90% of the total EVs received at the port over that period 

According to the latest business intelligence report from the Association of European Vehicle Logistics (ECG), China exported 542,000 vehicles globally in October, an 11% increase on the same month in 2023.  

Referencing figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Caam) the ECG said that the total number of new vehicles exported from China to October has reached 4.85m marking a significant 25.3% year-on-year increase. 

The ECG said that the majority of vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) are being exported to Russia, Mexico, the Middle East and Brazil. However, the fifth largest export market for China is Belgium and the majority of that volume is made up of electric vehicles (EVs). In the first eight months of 2024 Belgium, a European gateway for China exports, imported more than 182,500 vehicles. 

Comparing Caam data with figures from Destatis, the German federal statistics office, and data from Eurostat, ECG calculates that the number of vehicles entering the European Union in the first nine months of 2024 is around 581,000, down almost -2% compared to the first nine months of last year (593,416). There was also a significant  71.7% jump in the volume of vehicles shipped in September this year compared to the August. In September 77,388 new passenger cars were imported into the EU from China. From the end of October the EU started applying additional tariffs on China-made EV imports of up to 38% following an anti-subsidy investigation. 

China needs to export 232,000 vehicles to the EU in the final three months of this year if it is to beat last year’s export figure. 

ICE exports still dominate 
Passenger vehicles account for 84% of the total export volume from China. And 78.7% of the volume exported in first ten months of this year were ICE vehicles. Exports of ICE vehicles are up by 29.7% on an annual basis to 3.8m, according to the ECG. Meanwhile, exports of new energy vehicles (NEVs) increased by 6.3%, with 1.3m units exported so far this year. 

Year-to-date figures presented by ECG show that Chery is the biggest vehicle exporter, with 829,000 finished vehicles moved abroad, followed by SAIC (664,000) and third place tied between Changan and Geely (400,000 each). Chery exported 109,000 in September, followed by SAIC (81,000) and Geely (57,000). 

The ECG also pointed out that Juiangu Yueda Kia Motors, a joint venture that produces Kia brand cars in China, has emerged for the first time as a top ten exporter. Kia exported 16,000 new cars in September alone, knocking Tesla out of the top ten in the process.  

The ECG report on exports from China is available here