China's car exports climb 64 percent as home sales fall 27 percent

What happened

China's passenger car exports were up 64.2 percent in September to 919,000, while sales at home were down 27.4 percent to 1.668 million, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported on Monday 12 October. ^{[3, 4]}

In the first nine months, passenger car exports grew 70.6 percent to 7.167 million, the association said. It said several factors kept weighing on the home market 'with no meaningful improvement so far', CnEVPost reported. ^{[3, 4]}

Why it matters

Exports made up 36 percent of carmakers' passenger car shipments in September, against 19 percent a year earlier, the China Passenger Car Association reported. Total shipments were down 8.9 percent to 2.549 million, while retail sales at home were down 28.0 percent to 1.618 million. ^{[1, 2]}

Electric and plug-in hybrid cars led the shipments abroad: 558,000 of them were exported, up 163.5 percent, the passenger car association reported. ^[2]

Two bodies, two counts

The manufacturers' association counts commercial vehicles as well as passenger cars, and splits sales between home and abroad. The figures above are its passenger car counts, CnEVPost reported. ^[3]

The passenger car association counts only passenger cars, and its home figure is retail sales to buyers. That figure is about 50,000 below the manufacturers' home count, by the desk's arithmetic. ^{[2, 3]}

Both bodies put September's car exports near 919,000, yet one reported growth of 64.2 percent and the other 73.7 percent, so their year-earlier counts differ, by the desk's arithmetic. A Bloomberg headline of Saturday 10 October gave a 24 percent fall in retail sales, before the full release put it at 28.0 percent. ^{[2, 3, 7]}

What settles it next

The European Union has set an annual quota of 350,000 Chinese-made hybrid cars, and customs checks could start as early as December, two EU officials told AP. AP's first version of the story described the quota as covering electric or hybrid vehicles. ^{[5, 4]}

Cui Dongshu, the passenger car association's secretary-general, said a full-year recovery remained difficult but expected the fall in sales to narrow in the fourth quarter, Gasgoo reported. ^[2]

Who it reaches

Tesla (TSLA) is adjacent: its Shanghai factory exported 30,529 cars in September, up 58.29 percent, while its deliveries in China were down 9.35 percent to 64,837, by the passenger car association's figures. BYD, Geely and Chery, which have no ticker in the desk's universe, led the passenger car association's shipment ranking. BYD shipped about 455,000 cars in all, up 15.8 percent, even as its retail sales in China were down 28.9 percent. ^{[6, 2]}