According to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), 1.037 million vehicles were exported from China in June 2026. This marks the first time that the country’s vehicle exports exceeded one million units for a single month.
The June 2026 figure represents an 11.6% increase from May 2026 while also being 75.1% up compared to June 2025. For the first half of 2026, China exported a total of 5.096 million vehicles, a year-over-year (YoY) increase of 65.3%.
The encouraging results are unexpected by the CAAM, as the association projected total exports for 2026 to increase by a modest 4.3% to 7.4 million units. As it stands, China is close to 69% of the way to achieving that target number.
While exports are on the up and anchoring China’s automotive industry, the association highlighted that the domestic market is taking a beating with sales declining by double-digit percentages. Over the years, vehicle exports from China have steadily increased, with The Economic Observer highlighting 2021 as a breakout year.
Prior to that year, China’s vehicle exports averaged around one million units yearly between 2018 and 2020. Starting 2021, the figure exceeded two million units for the first time, while 2022 and 2023 saw 3.11 million and 4.91 million units respectively. From 2024 to 2025, exports climbed from 5.86 million to 7.1 million units.
Unsurprisingly, new energy vehicles (NEVs) have steadily accounted for the bulk of exports. In June 2026, exports of NEVs reached 523,000 units, representing a month-over-month (MoM) increase of 17.2% and YoY increase of 160%. Meanwhile, vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines saw 514,000 units exports for a MoM increase of 6.4% and YoY increase of 32.7%. As the numbers indicate, for every two cars China exports, one is a NEV.
The year-to-date (YTD) tally for NEVs is currently 2.355 million units, which is up 120% YoY, while “traditional fuel” vehicles are up by 35.5% YoY at 2.741 million units – NEVs accounted for 46.2% of total vehicle exports between January and June this year.
Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said the encouraging export results is attributed to a robust supply chain for NEVs as well as feature-rich products. Strong demand from key regions like ASEAN, the Middle East and Russia have also fuelled the growth in exports.
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1 day, china will outsell jap cars… bye2 T&H
impossible! western media and news channels always said tsaina going to collapse soon since 2 decades ago
Go suck a railroad spike, you PRC POS cybertrooper. Honda energy efficient engines remains unbeaten. China tries, but their ICE engines are truly not Japan level efficient yet. Or even Europe level. Hence why they dumped all their stocks into EVs. Electric motors are way easier to optimize, literally program that thing to be efficient. We have real world testimonies instead of your propagandist bs. Geely’s new efficient engine isn’t exactly what’s in the Protons right now, is it?! No matter how much you whine online, Honda/Toyota/Perodua still sitting pretty near the Top 10 because people can see it in the petrol bills of the China car users. And even more so due to the idiotic war in the ME.
You my guy, failed to see the bigger picture or far ahead. The reason why automakers from other countries are panicking is not what the Chinese have now. But how fast the Chinese have progressed at such a short time span. By the time your japanese brand had gone through a generation of car or engine, the Chinese would’ve gone through two or three generations with improvements and advancements brought to each subsequent generation.
Monday morning meeting. ‘That Guy’ got chewed up by his manager for failing to achieve sale target or get new prospects. Proceed to rant online.