Chinese passenger car exports jumped 73% in May from a year earlier to about 809,000 vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) reported Wednesday, as higher gasoline and diesel prices triggered by the war in Iran boosted international interest in electric vehicles.
The May figure rose from roughly 796,000 passenger cars exported in April, the data showed. Exports of new-energy vehicles — a category that includes pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids — more than doubled from May 2025 to about 435,000 units. EVs and plug-in hybrids now account for more than half of China’s total passenger car exports, according to the association.
Chinese automakers, led by BYD, have been accelerating their overseas expansion into markets across Latin America, Asia and Europe. The push abroad comes as domestic demand faces mounting pressure, partly due to scaled-back government incentives for drivers to switch to electric vehicles.
Domestic passenger car sales in May fell 23.4% from a year earlier to 1.44 million vehicles, CAAM said, marking the seventh straight month of year-on-year declines. Sales of cars with internal combustion engines — gasoline and diesel vehicles — dropped almost 42% from the year before as the share of electric vehicles continued to grow.