- In the first quarter, China imported 8,870 vehicles from the US, down 66 percent from a year earlier.
- In the first quarter, China imported the most vehicles from Japan at 30,517, followed by Germany at 23,695.
China’s auto imports saw a rare sharp year-on-year decline in the first quarter, as the international environment becomes more complex and local brands rise to prominence.
In the first quarter, China imported 95,000 vehicles, down 39 percent year-on-year, a rare huge January-March decline, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, said in a report yesterday.
The quarterly figure was the lowest of data from the CPCA tracked by CnEVPost.
In the first quarter, China imported 8,870 vehicles from the US, down 66 percent year-on-year, and the decline continued in March, Cui said.
It’s worth noting that this situation could worsen this month, with the impact of the US-China trade war.
One example is that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) began stopping taking orders for imported Model S and Model X cars in China earlier this month.
In the first quarter, China imported the most vehicles from Japan at 30,517, followed by Germany at 23,695, Slovakia at 17,733, the US at 8,871, the UK at 8,371, Mexico at 1,443, Sweden at 1,371, Austria at 695, South Korea at 359, and Italy at 266.
New energy vehicles (NEVs) contributed only 2.6 percent of China’s first-quarter vehicle imports, with gasoline passenger cars still dominating, Cui said.
In March, China imported 39,000 vehicles, down 27 percent from a year earlier, according to Cui’s report.
China imported the most vehicles from Japan in March at 17,503, followed by Germany at 6,828, Slovakia at 6,485, the UK at 3,937, the US at 2,350, Mexico at 518, Sweden at 353, Austria at 157, Poland at 154 and South Korea at 153.
As China’s auto industry grows, the electrification transition has changed the structure of market demand, Cui said.
Demand for gasoline vehicles in China continues to shrink, and demand for imported gasoline vehicles has seen a significant decline, according to Cui.
Chinese vehicle imports from the US have declined rapidly in recent years, from 280,000 in 2017 to 109,000 in 2024, according to the report.
As international relations become more complex, China should create more sophisticated import models to maintain a reasonable size of imported vehicles, Cui said.
Tesla has stopped taking orders for Model S and Model X in China, likely due in part to a worsening trade war that has hit both imported models.
