Chongqing- Since 2022, many Chinese automobile companies have vigorously promoted car exports, and firms based in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality are no exception.

Last year, Chongqing's automobile export value was 12.32 billion yuan (about 1.83 U.S. dollars), with a year-on-year increase of 1.1 times. In the first five months of 2022, Chongqing exported 109,000 vehicles, a rise of 43.4% yearly. The total export value was 7.57 billion yuan, with an increase of 64% year on year, according to the statistics of the Chongqing Customs District.

Automobile companies go global

Since the beginning of this year, the new automobile business brands have gone overseas, and the traditional automobile companies have also expanded their exportation. Since 2017, the total value of the vehicle has been transported to nearly 15 billion yuan, according to the Yuxinou (Chongqing) Logistics Co., Ltd. 

For example, Changan Automobile, a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Chongqing, achieved 82,000 vehicles of overseas sales volume with a year-on-year increase of 57.07%. In the first four months of this year, its export sales accounted for 13% of total production, compared with 5% last year. In the future sales of Changan, the overseas market share will exceed 30%.

Chongqing Sokon Industry Group Stock Co., Ltd. is another example. In the first five months of 2022, Sokon exported 21,102 vehicles, attaining a year-on-year growth of 133%. Among them, 2,525 electric cars were exported, an increase of 939.1% yearly. Electric vehicles have now spread to South Korea, France, Turkey, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other countries.

Vehicle import port

The Chongqing vehicle import port is the first port established by the country in the western inland area. In 2021,  Chongqing imported 7,564 complete vehicles, with a year-on-year growth of 49.75% through the port.

The southwest distribution centers of prestigious car brands, like Porsche and Audi, have landed successively in Chongqing, and the Bentley import distribution business completed the strategic transfer from the coast to the inland.

Importing complete vehicles from the overseas origins of automobiles via China-Europe Railway Express (Chongqing) not only reduces the transportation time by more than a month but also lowers the price by 10% to 15%. 

Wider of opening-up

The increasing number of made-in-Chongqing vehicle exports shows the intense competitiveness of local automobile companies. Among them, the Liangjiang New Area is the central area of the city's automobile industry, with a 35% penetration rate of intelligent networked vehicles, 17 percentage points higher than the national average.

With the improvement of the external transportation hub, Chongqing continues to promote its opening to the outside world with different routes. 

To the west are 33 China-Europe Railway Express operating routes, reaching 72 node cities in 27 countries in Asia and Europe. A total of more than 10,000 trains were launched, which delivered nearly 900,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of goods with a value of almost 400 billion yuan.

To the east, relying on the shipping advantages of the Yangtze River Golden Waterway, Chongqing will speed up the construction of the intelligent Yangtze River logistics project. Meanwhile, the Chongqing-Shanghai direct express line and the Chongqing-Ningbo rail-sea intermodal train have been opened to complement each other with Yangtze River shipping.​

To the north, the regular operation of the Chongqing-Manzhouli-Russia train has dramatically improved the efficiency of goods circulation between Chongqing and Russia and further expanded the trade market.

To the south, the New International Land-sea Trade Corridor has become a national strategy, and Chongqing has become the center of logistics and operation organization. The logistics network of the corridor covers 315 ports in 107 countries (regions) around the world.

(Wang Yuxuan, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)