BEIJING (April 9): Car exports, an increasingly important source of growth for China's hyper-competitive auto sector, picked up pace in March despite shipment disruptions from the crisis in the Middle East, one of the industry's key overseas markets. Exports grew 73.7% from a year earlier to nearly 700,000 vehicles last month, faster than the 54.1% in the first two months, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Thursday. "Car exports have entered a stage of super high growth, beating our expectations," said Cui Dongshu, the association's secretary-general. Combustion engine car sales were down 15.7%, accelerating from a 13.4% decline in the January-February period, although China has capped domestic fuel price hikes to soften the impact of surging oil prices from the Mideast conflict. BYD executives said they were optimistic the company would sell more than 1.5 million vehicles overseas this year.

Source: The Edge Markets April 09, 2026 09:13 UTC