With its armada of electric vehicle manufacturers, China dethroned Japan as the world's leading automobile exporter last year, according to data published this Wednesday by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (Jama).
China's automobile exports totaled 4.91 million units last year, up 57.9 percent, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
In detail, one vehicle in three exported from China was electric (1.77 million units, + 67.1% over one year), according to the country's customs.
Until now, Japan had been the world's top auto exporter since 2017, and the loss of its title last year to China was long predicted.
The importance of this shift must however be put into perspective, because Japanese manufacturers produce twice as many vehicles in their factories abroad (17 million units in 2022) as in the Japanese archipelago.
Conversely, Chinese manufacturers still have few factories abroad.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Japanese giant Toyota remained the world's leading automobile manufacturer in terms of volume sales last year, even setting a new historic record (11.2 million vehicles sold), according to figures published Tuesday .
The Chinese accused of unfair competition
This meteoric rise of Chinese manufacturers worries both car manufacturers in Europe and Japan, where local producers are lagging behind in 100% electric production as in Western countries.
The European Commission opened an investigation last September into alleged illegal subsidies from Beijing to Chinese electric manufacturers, accused of unfair competition by the European automobile industry.
Chinese cars ended the year with almost 5% market share in 2023 in Europe.
An impressive figure which is expected to increase next year.
So much so that the Chinese champion of electric cars BYD (which became the world number one in electric cars ahead of the American Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2023) is already rapidly developing its production abroad.
BYD, for example, announced at the end of December the construction of a factory in Hungary to target the European market, and it also has similar projects elsewhere in the world, from Southeast Asia to Brazil.
China has regained market share in Russia
Russia and Mexico were the top two export markets for the Chinese auto industry in 2023, while most of its electrified vehicle exports were to Europe and Southeast Asia.
Exports of Chinese vehicles to Russia have exploded since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, while international sanctions against Russia have pushed Western and Japanese manufacturers out of this important market.