The auto industry is becoming an important force to drive foreign trade growth

According to customs data, in 2022 China's total value of imports and exports of goods 42.07 trillion yuan, the first time exceeded 40 trillion yuan mark, an increase of 7.7% over 2021, for six consecutive years to maintain the world's first goods trading country status.

Industry experts pointed out that in 2022, China's foreign trade structure of high-tech products, mechanical and electrical products exports dominate, "steel and iron type" characteristics are obvious. Data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that in 2022, China's auto exports jumped to second place in the world, reaching 3.111 million units for the first time, an increase of 54.4% year-on-year. The auto industry has quickly become an indispensable force in China's foreign exports and a promising industry with strong development resilience.

Traditional car companies lead the way New energy penetration rate is climbing

In 2022, China's passenger car exports of 2.529 million units, commercial vehicle exports of 582,000 units, new energy vehicle exports of 679,000 units. It is understood that, from the manufacturer's point of view, in 2022 the dominant export passenger cars are still SAIC, Geely, Chery, BYD, Great Wall, Yutong, Heavy Auto, Golden Dragon and other traditional car companies. Traditional car companies lead the way, fuel cars are dominant, and gradually to new energy penetration of the export pattern is obvious.

In terms of passenger cars, due to years of technology and market accumulation, SAIC, Geely and other car companies have been more competitive in Asian, African and Latin American countries with traditional fuel cars. With the implementation of the "new four" in the domestic auto industry, these traditional car companies have made greater breakthroughs in intelligent technology, further enriching their product lines and making their international competitive advantages more obvious, gradually forming a pattern of taking Asia, Africa and Latin America as their home base and gradually entering the European and American markets.

As the representative of the earliest "going out" car enterprises, Great Wall Motor recently released the December 2022 production and sales data. 2022, Great Wall Motor overseas market cumulative sales of 173.18 million units, an increase of 21.28%, the cumulative sales of overseas markets has exceeded 1 million units; 200,000 yuan or more models accounted for 15.27% of sales, up 5 percent. 15.27%, up 5 percentage points; intelligent advancement accelerated to the ground, intelligent models penetration rate reached 86.17%.

The new car-making force represented by Azure and Xiaopeng chose to take advantage of new energy to directly seize the European and American markets "technology overtaking" path, full of momentum, follow-up development space. However, it is worth noting that, simply from the performance of the overseas market in the recent year, the new car makers still reveal a lot of problems. Whether it is the leader of the Azera, or other new force car companies such as Xiaopeng, need to continue to practice internal strength in corporate management, market layout and technology research and development, precipitation development toughness, in order to obtain better development.

Commercial vehicle exports in 2022 also achieved excellent results, with a year-on-year growth of up to 44.9%, Yutong Bus, China National Heavy Duty Truck and Golden Dragon Bus and other enterprises to lead the pattern of the sea basically formed. Especially worth mentioning is that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Yutong bus performance, has become a veritable golden card of the Chinese manufacturing "go out".

The person in charge of Yutong Bus said in an interview that through product innovation and model innovation, Yutong Bus has already achieved a global strategic layout. Up to now, Yutong Bus has exported more than 85,000 buses and sold more than 170,000 new energy buses, which is the world's leading production and sales scale. In recent years, Yutong is transforming from a "manufacturing + product sales" enterprise to a "manufacturing service + solution" enterprise. Through more than ten years of overseas market cultivation, Yutong's overseas sales and service network has been globalized, covering six regions including Europe, CIS, America, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Middle East through more than 70 subsidiaries, offices and distribution partners.

Clear competitive advantage, export space will continue to expand

Stretching the timeline, the first year of China's auto exports should be 2021, a year in which China's auto exports changed its previous hovering posture and grew 101.1% year-on-year, entering 2 million units for the first time, laying a good foundation for continued growth in 2022. For most car companies, the consensus is that as the impact of the epidemic and other unfavorable factors recede and the "new four" on the ground, China's auto exports will further expand the space, the international development of the auto industry has become an inevitable trend.

Industry insiders point out that the outbreak of China's auto exports from 2021 is in line with the laws of industrial development and has its own logical inevitability behind it. First, thanks to China's complete industrial system and super tough supply chain, and this advantage is more prominent under the epidemic, especially the rapid progress of new energy technology is to let the international market; Second, Chinese car companies have been in the overseas market for many years, a solid foundation, from the overall export situation in 2022, the traditional car companies in Asia and Africa and Europe and the United States market "two-wheeled Third, the world energy pattern change and "double carbon" goal for Chinese car enterprises to provide space at sea, such as Norway and other Nordic countries on the import and use of new energy vehicles have a good situation. Certain policy support.

"In the new year, Great Wall Motor will continue to promote the brand upward, firmly globalize its development, and make comprehensive efforts in new energy and intelligence. We will strive to take the forest ecology as the support, the world as the map, and the products as the driving force to make full efforts in the new energy market, build global brand influence, and accelerate the progressive development of the enterprise." The person in charge of Great Wall Motor said.

As a representative of commercial vehicles, Yutong Bus said in an interview that Yutong will give full play to its technological advantages in the field of new energy buses, and continue to expand the influence of Made in China with the trend of Chinese brands going abroad. With the first value chain-based value system in the bus industry, "Super Genetic Value Chain", we will conduct comprehensive research on the climate, road conditions, customer habits, laws and regulations in different markets to create a product+service model that better meets the needs of users and polish the "Yutong Model" of Chinese buses going abroad. The "Yutong Model".

Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that China's auto exports are expected to grow in 2023, combined with the impact of factors such as the continued rise in international oil prices, the acceptance of new energy vehicles or higher, the export situation will be better.