New energy auto shipments boom as quality, technology increase

With the sound of a siren, a ship carrying 3,000 of a domestic brand's new energy vehicles left a wharf in Guangzhou's Nansha district in Guangdong province one morning in late March, bound for a port in Southeast Asia.

It was the largest single shipment of such vehicles exported by a single domestic brand in South China since the beginning of the year, according to Guangzhou Customs.

Zhang Bojia, deputy director of the international logistics project team at China Capital Logistics Co Ltd, which handles new energy car shipments, said the company's exports from different mainland ports have continued to rise this year.

That is no accident, he said.

"China's independent brands have been exploring overseas markets in recent years, and their business strategy has shifted from focusing mainly on the domestic market to placing equal emphasis on both domestic and global markets," Zhang said.

"China's domestic auto brands have won recognition in many foreign markets, therefore, demand for export orders has also increased. This is in response to continuous improvements in domestic automobiles' product strength, sophisticated configurations and a favorable cost-performance ratio," he said.

Domestic new energy vehicle manufacturers have taken full advantage of the trends in information, digitalization, networking and intelligent development, and continuously increased their technological innovation efforts to achieve repeated product upgrades, he said.

Not only have they increased their influence in domestic markets, but also connected with global markets, bringing more intelligent and green products to overseas consumers, he added.

China sold 679,000 new energy vehicles abroad in 2022, up 1.2 times year-on-year, according to Customs officials. Significant growth trends have accelerated this year, they said.

Guangdong province's exports of electric passenger vehicles increased by 15.4 times year-on-year in the first two months.