(NewsNation) — China has dethroned Japan as the world’s largest auto exporter. Automotive experts are blaming the shift on Western carmakers‘ decisions to pull back on supplying cars to Russia following the war in Ukraine.
China saw it as an opportunity and became Russia’s go-to car supplier.
The country’s auto sales skyrocketed, selling at least five times more vehicles in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
The CPCA announced at a press conference that exports of cars jumped 62% to a record 3.83 million vehicles. Japanese customs data showed passenger car exports at 3.5 million for the first 11 months of the year, excluding second-hand vehicles.
China’s total auto exports were estimated to hit 5.26 million units for the whole of last year valued at about $102 billion, while Japan’s full-year exports were forecast at about 4.3 million units, according to the association.
China’s proactive measures to help Russia have caused a significant shift in the auto industry, pushing the United States down the list of leading auto exporters.
“The Chinese market is much, much bigger than us. They sell at least 10 million more vehicles than they do in the U.S. In terms of sales volume, they’re in the lead; but not when it comes to technology — when it comes to gas-powered engines,” automotive industry analyst John McElroy said.
The U.S. put high tariffs on Chinese imports and the EU launched an investigation into low-cost electric vehicles from China. However, these measures didn’t stop China from becoming 2023’s largest car exporter.
China is now shifting its focus to electric vehicles, seeing an uptick in sales overseas. It’s a market the country already has a leg up in as they have been working on dominating EVs globally for the past 15 years.
Most recently, China’s BYD beat Tesla as the world’s top seller of electric vehicles last quarter.
“We are never going to overtake them but we can be big players,” McElroy said. “It’s going to take until the early 2030s before we won’t rely on them at all but that’s how much of a lead they have on us right now.”
Auto experts say the decisions being made geopolitically have far-reaching financial consequences that are trickling down to the auto industry as a whole and the American consumer.
Reuters contributed to this report.