Workers and automatic robots make new-energy vehicle (NEV) parts at a factory in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on May 4, 2023. China has been the largest NEV producer for eight years in a row. The nation produced 674,000 NEVs in March, up 44.8 percent year-on-year. Photo: VCG

China's vehicle exports in April reached 425,000 units, recording a year-on-year increase of 150 percent, maintaining its strong growth momentum, data from China's Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed on Monday.

Total vehicle exports value stood at $8.31 billion, up 200 percent, CAAM said. It also reported that China's total exports of vehicles reached 1.49 million representing a year-on-year increase of 76.3 percent over the first four months of 2023, with the total export value recording a 100 percent increase over 2022 to reach $29.68 billion.

New-energy vehicles (NEVs) become a major component of vehicle exports, according to the CAAM.

The sales of NEVs in China accounted for 60 percent of the world's total in the first four months of 2023, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on his WeChat account recently, attributing the achievement to China's strong supply chain with the domestic market sales and exports both ticking upwards. 

Cui noted that total NEV sales worldwide from January to April in 2023 reached 3.54 million, a year-on-year increase of 38 percent. China's NEV sales in the same period topped 2.11 million, surpassing both Europe and North America.

China now remains the world's largest NEV market, with domestic and overseas carmakers continuing to strengthen local production capacity, which also contributes to the expansion of local supply chains, Wu Shuocheng, a veteran automobile sector analyst, told the Global Times on Monday.
 
Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, and Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong during his recent visit to China.
 
Musk commended the vitality and potential of China's NEV development, showing confidence in the Chinese market and willingness to continuously deepening mutually beneficial cooperation.
In May, Tesla sold 77,695 vehicles in Chinese mainland, according to the newly released CPCA data on Monday.

In April, the industrial added value of the automobile manufacturing sector increased by 44.6 year-on-year, official data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. The NBS data also revealed that the retail sales of consumer goods in the automotive category reached 1.41 trillion yuan ($198.11 billion), up 5.4 percent year-on-year and accounting for 9.42 percent of the total retail sales for consumer goods.

The sales of China's NEVs showed the consumption remains buoyant despite the overall retail sales face some pressures amid the transition period from gasoline-powered vehicles to battery-powered electric vehicles, Wu said.
 
China's auto exports have shown three major characteristics, including a gradual expansion in scale, a more diverse market, and NEVs exports staging a strong growth, China's Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said earlier.

Editor: Xiao Da