In mid-May 2026, more than four months have passed since the new regulations on used car exports came into effect. For those car dealers who are frantically hoarding "zero-kilometer used cars" at the end of 2025, the "180-day red line" they originally bet on is about to expire. These vehicles, which will be heavily licensed and hoarded from mid-November to the end of December 2025, will soon expire the 180-day restriction period. But is this the dawn of "getting rid of the trap" or the helplessness of "survival with a broken arm"?

The last "rush" window and the crazy car hoarding trend

Time set back to November 11, 2025, the Ministry of Commerce and other four departments jointly issued new regulations to strictly control the export of new cars in the name of used cars. Although the policy has highlighted a "180-day red line", it also leaves a buffer period of more than one month-as long as the transfer registration procedures are completed before January 1, 2026, you can still apply for an export license normally.

It was this buffer period that made a large number of car dealers feel lucky and carry out a crazy wave of "rushing and running" to hoard cars. What they are betting is that as long as they turn the new car into a "stock used car" and survive 180 days, they can bypass the "After-Sales Maintenance Service Confirmation", which is the most difficult in the new regulations, and continue to sell the "quasi-new car" overseas to earn a difference.

After 180 days, I fell into a dilemma

Today, these vehicles that are about to be lifted have not brought the expected huge profits to car dealers, but have instead put them in a dilemma.

The first is the huge financial pressure. Since hoarding cars at the end of 2025, the funds of car dealers have been suppressed for nearly half a year. For many small and medium-sized car dealers with weak anti-risk capabilities, the capital chain has long been stretched to its limit, and they are suffering huge interest and storage costs every day.

Secondly, there is the double squeeze of export thresholds and profits. Even after 180 days, the current export market is no longer the era of "lying down and making money" back then. Under the new regulations, the profit margin of pure used car exports is far less than that of "new zero-kilometer cars" and faces more stringent compliance reviews. At the same time, with a large number of transformed car dealers pouring into pure used car tracks and fluctuations in international logistics costs, export profits have been greatly compressed.

conclusion

These group of car exporters who hoard cars in November 2025 are now at the last moment of withdrawing funds. The expected profit rate at the beginning has been lost. Now for them, it is not so much a "return" to the right track, but more a "survival struggle". As long as we can successfully sell the car in our hands and recover the capital, even if the profits are meager, we can still survive this cruel industry reshuffle.

Source: New energy at the forefront of the sea

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