Unreleased models line up at Chery's booth at the 2026 Auto China Show in Beijing on April 24. LI FUSHENG/CHINA DAILY
China's auto exports are growing faster than domestic retail sales, according to June sales figures released by major automakers, underscoring a trend analysts say turns overseas expansion from a strategic option into a competitive necessity.
Chery, a long-standing leader in China's auto exports, kept its top monthly export ranking in June with 191,062 units, representing a 79.7 percent year-on-year increase and marking its fourth consecutive month of record highs.
Exports made up 79.4 percent of Chery's total June sales of 240,585 units, which rose 9.5 percent year-on-year. The automaker's first-half cumulative sales reached 1,275,076 units, growing 7.8 percent from the same period of 2025.
BYD, meanwhile, is narrowing the gap with the industry's export leader. The company's June export volume hit 175,000 units, nearly doubling year-on-year and accounting for 43 percent of its total monthly sales. Its cumulative exports in the first half reached approximately 791,000 units, meeting 52.7 percent of its full-year target of 1.5 million units.
