Chinese auto exports rose 64% in 2023, with strong push by EVs, as makers expanded overseas

abcnews.go.com:

An industry association reports that China’s auto exports surged 63.7% in 2023 while sales at home rose 4.2%

BEIJING — China's auto exports surged 63.7% in 2023 while domestic sales, boosted by year-end incentives, rose 4.2%, an industry association said Thursday.

The surge in exports, to 4.1 million according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, may propel China past Japan as the world’s number one exporter of cars. Japan exported 3.6 million cars in the first 11 months of the year, with a final tally expected on Jan. 31.

Chinese automakers have aggressively expanded exports in search of growth missing at home as China’s economy slows. They have also pushed into electric vehicles as government subsidies transformed China into the world's largest EV market, even as car sales have stagnated overall.

Auto sales inside China totaled 21.9 million cars last year, down from a peak of about 24 million in 2017.

An explosion in sales to Russia helped drive up China's exports in 2023, as European and Japanese makers pulled back because of the war in Ukraine. China exported 840,000 vehicles to Russia in the first 11 months of last year, including trucks and buses as well as cars.

The China Passenger Car Association said earlier this week that demand in Russia and neighboring countries is slowing and future export growth will depend on an expansion of EV sales overseas. Chinese EV makers have targeted markets in Southeast Asia, Europe and Australia, among others.

A Chinese shipyard delivered the country's first domestically built freighter to transport cars this week, the builder, CIMC Raffles Group, said in an announcement posted on social media. The BYD Explorer No. 1, which can carry 7,000 vehicles, is being