PUBLISHER: ResearchInChina | PRODUCT CODE: 1704033
PUBLISHER: ResearchInChina | PRODUCT CODE: 1704033
Overseas Cockpit Research: Tariffs stir up the global automotive market, and intelligent cockpits promote automobile exports
ResearchInChina has released the Research Report on Overseas Cockpit Configuration and Supply Chain of Key Models, 2025.
The report summarizes and analyzes the status quo of China's automobile exports and forecasts trends
It sorts out the demand and characteristics of key overseas markets such as Asia, Europe and Latin America
It analyzes the cockpit configuration of best-selling models of Chinese brands such as Geely, SAIC, BYD, Great Wall, Chery, and Xpeng in key overseas markets.
It expounds the cockpit configuration of popular models of international brands such as Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford, BMW, Audi, and Tesla in main overseas markets.
It summarizes the overseas solutions, businesses and strategies of Chinese automotive cockpit suppliers
It sums up the cockpit solutions of international automotive cockpit suppliers and their cooperation with Chinese OEMs in the global market
According to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), China's automobile exports swelled from 1.08 million units in 2020 to 6.41 million units in 2024. From 2021 to 2024, the annual year-on-year growth rate hit 103%, 55%, 57% and 23% respectively. In 2024, the year-on-year growth rate of exports slowed down significantly. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the CPCA, predicted in an interview in early 2025 that automobile exports will increase by 10% in 2025.
In April 2025, major Chinese OEMs successively released first-quarter sales data:
In the first quarter, Chery Group exported and sold 255,000 vehicles to overseas markets, rising by 4% year-on-year and accounting for 45.1% of the total sales volume.
SAIC Group exported and sold 219,000 vehicles to overseas markets in the first quarter, falling by 3.3% year-on-year and accounting for 23.2% of the total sales volume.
BYD's export volume and overseas sales volume reached 213,000 vehicles in the first quarter, swelling by by 110.7% year-on-year and accounting for 21.6% of the total sales volume.
22.6% or 159,000 vehicles of Changan Automobile's total sales volume in the first quarter came from overseas markets, with the export volume increasing by 46.5% year-on-year.
In the first quarter, Great Wall Motor exported and sold 91,000 vehicles, equivalent to 35.4% of the total sales volume, to overseas markets, jumping by 10.4% year-on-year.
Geely's export volume and overseas sales volume amounted to 90,000 vehicles in the first quarter, edging up by 2% year-on-year and making up 12.8% of the total sales volume.
In September 2023, the European Commission announced an anti-subsidy investigation on Chinese electric vehicles. On June 12, 2024, the European Commission issued an announcement stating that if no solution could be reached with China, it would impose provisional countervailing duties on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China since July 4. The final ruling was originally scheduled to be uploaded to the Official Journal of the European Union on October 30 and take effect the next day. However, it was uploaded "in advance" in the evening of October 29. This means that the European Commission would impose definitive countervailing duties on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China for a period of five years, starting from 00:00 on October 30 (local time).
After more than four months of negotiations, even with the combined efforts of multiple parties in China and Europe, the concessions finally made by the European Commission were still very limited. Only Tesla was able to pay additional tariffs according to a separately calculated tax rate through lobbying. The tariff on the cars exported by Tesla (Shanghai) to Europe was reduced from the original 20.8% to 9%, and finally further down to 7.8%.
After the announcement of provisional countervailing duties in June 2024, the sales volume of Chinese OEMs in the EU market (27 EU member states, excluding other non-EU countries in Europe such as the UK and Russia) declined significantly. However, from the introduction of definitive countervailing duties at the end of October to February 2025, the sales volume rebounded dramatically, and the market share of Chinese OEMs in the EU increased from 3.7% in January 2024 and 4.1% in February 2024 to 4.8% in January 2025 and 5.2% in February 2025.
In April 2025, President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on all cars exported to the United States, shocking the global automotive industry. Some OEMs have decided to suspend the delivery of new cars to US dealers to cope with the soaring costs caused by tariffs. According to S&P Global Mobility, US light vehicle sales reached 16.03 million units in 2024, including 8.7 million (54%) produced in the US and 7.33 million (46%) imported. Mexico was the leading exporter of automobiles to the US, with 2.96 million finished vehicles shipped in 2024 (in 2024, China exported 445,000 vehicles to Mexico, some of which were re-exported to the US under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). South Korea ranked second by exporting about 1.54 million vehicles to the US, followed by Japan with 1.38 million vehicles and Canada with 1.07 million vehicles. In 2024, China directly exported 116,000 vehicles to the US, including Tesla's cars sold back to the country.
In May 2024, the US announced that the total tariff on Chinese electric vehicles would rise to 102.5% from 27.5%. Therefore, the countervailing duties will impact little on Chinese vehicles exported to the US.
Even though the US "reciprocal tariffs" may trigger other countries to impose additional tariffs, which may further increase uncertainty in the global market, we remain optimistic about the long-term prosperity of China's automobile exports in the future.
The global automotive market shows significant regional differences due to factors such as economic level, policy orientation, consumer culture and industrial foundation. Chinese OEMs have transformed their exports from the past extensive mode to the intensive mode, and have built a full automotive industry chain overseas, including innovation and R&D centers, production bases, marketing centers, supply chain centers, financial companies and self-built logistics systems. For example, SAIC Group has three innovation and R&D centers, multiple vehicle manufacturing bases, more than 100 parts production and R&D bases and over 2,800 marketing and service outlets overseas. Geely boasts more than 500 sales and service outlets in 70 countries around the world, adopting parallel strategies of self-built networks and dealer networks, and making full use of Volvo's production capacity and service network in European factories.
Chinese OEMs are pushing smart cockpits to global car users with their technological innovation and cost advantages. The global market has rigid demand for smart cockpits. Chinese OEMs have gradually improved their brand awareness in overseas markets through global cooperation, localization strategies and digital marketing.
From CES 2025, it's evident that automotive technology is booming, and AI leads the new trend. Intelligent cockpits have become a natural carrier of black automotive technologies and AI, drawing much attention. In comparison to previous years, electrification and charging systems become less hot, while Intelligent cockpits, vehicle displays/HUDs, and occupant monitoring systems (OMS) gain greater popularity.
Globally, international OEMs are also accelerating the adoption of intelligent cockpits. Even for traditional models in non-European and non-American markets, cockpit intelligence is advancing.
The push for intelligent cockpits isn't limited to new energy vehicles, and traditional fuel-powered vehicle companies are also following up. In March 2025, at its Intelligent Strategy Conference themed with "Smart Integration of Fuel and Electric, Global Journey Together", Chery announced that starting in 2025, all models across its brands, covering fuel, hybrid, range-extended, and all-electric power types, will be promoted simultaneously in global markets, achieving "four equalities": global equality, oil-electric equality, scenario equality, and urban-rural equality.
AI has already been implemented in Chinese OEMs' export models. However, as governments worldwide tighten AI regulation, the use of AI in export vehicles must comply with local regulations and policies. Amid rising trade protectionism in Europe and the US, Chinese OEMs expanding overseas need to more meticulously study the regulations and policies of target markets and ensure compliance while competing in these regions.