China’s passenger car exports surge nearly 85% in April as domestic
sales slump
[May 11, 2026] By
CHAN HO-HIM
HONG KONG (AP) — China’s exports of passenger cars surged in April, an
industry group said Monday, as its carmakers push to expand in overseas
markets as domestic sales continue to fall.
Exports of passenger cars from China last month jumped almost 85% from a
year ago to around 796,000 vehicles, according to the China Association
of Automobile Manufacturers. That’s up from the 748,000 vehicles
exported in March.
Among them, exports of new energy passenger vehicles, including battery
electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, jumped more than 120% last month
from the year before, to about 420,000 units.
At home, however, sales of passenger cars dropped 25.5% from the year
before to 1.3 million vehicles, marking its sixth straight month of
year-on-year declines, CAAM data showed.
Domestic car demand in China has weakened due to dialed-back government
support this year for drivers to switch to new energy vehicles, auto
analysts said, while the country’s uncertain economic outlook, triggered
by a prolonged property sector downturn, has also been holding some
consumers off from purchasing new cars in the world’s largest auto
market.
Competition among Chinese carmakers has also been fierce. At the Beijing
auto show last month, more than 1,450 vehicles were showcased as
companies displayed their latest models and technologies, from
artificial intelligence-infused cars to advanced ultrafast-charging
batteries.
Some analysts believe that domestic car sales momentum could improve
later this year as more new models are rolled out. More Chinese
consumers will also probably start buying new cars again as they
increasingly adjust to the government subsidy changes this year, Yichao
Zhang, an automotive practice partner at consultancy AlixPartners,
added.
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 Overseas, leading Chinese car brands
such as BYD and Geely Auto are making inroads. In addition to export
growth, some automakers, including BYD, have also been expanding
production capacity abroad by building factories in regions such as
Europe and Latin America.
As the war in Iran drives up petrol prices, there
are also growing expectations that more drivers globally will switch
to EVs. One in six new vehicles sold in Australia in April were EVs,
according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, and BYD
was the second-highest-selling brand behind Toyota.
With oil and fuel prices likely to stay elevated for a longer
period, Claire Yuan, an auto analyst at S&P Global Ratings, said it
would likely “incentivize consumers to buy EVs and this will benefit
Chinese EV exports.”
China’s overall passenger car exports could still rise by around 20%
in 2026, according to estimates by AlixPartners, with Chinese
carmakers expanding in key markets such as Southeast Asia.
Beijing has also made progress with the European Union and Canada
over their imports of Chinese EVs. Some in the auto industry are
closely watching trade discussions between U.S. President Donald
Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this week when the
American leader visits Beijing.
There has been pushback from the U.S. against Chinese automakers’
access to the American market, after Chinese EVs became virtually
blocked from entering the United States due to a 100% tariff imposed
in 2024 by former President Joe Biden's administration.
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Associated Press writer Aniruddha Ghosal in Hanoi, Vietnam
contributed to this report.
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