Place nearly 500 million yuan in orders! China's used cars are sailing from Chengdu to the world

On June 11, there was a matchmaking meeting, 7 large orders, and a turnover of nearly 500 million yuan. This is not the end of Chengdu, but the opening of the second half of China's second-hand car sailing.

On June 11, 2026, at the Chengdu Shuangliu Airport International Conference Center

Overseas buyers from Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, as well as nearly 500 people from domestic automobile companies, traders, and supply chain service providers, gathered in Chengdu. Seven major trade orders for the export of used cars were signed, with a total amount of nearly 500 million yuan, covering new energy and traditional fuel vehicles, and involving strategic cooperation in vehicle exports and long-term procurement.

The weight of this second second-hand car export supply and acquisition matchmaking meeting in Sichuan Province goes far beyond the numbers themselves.

On the same day, three things happened at the same time: the country's first provincial-level overseas comprehensive service system for used car exports was released; the first batch of six overseas comprehensive service stations were unveiled, covering Tashkent, Minsk, Bishkek, Dubai, Moscow, Baku six major markets; the country's eight largest used car export bases signed collaborative development agreements.

The signal is very clear: China's second-hand car exports are switching from selling cars to providing services.

1. Data will not lie: Sichuan's second-hand car exports have accelerated

Let's look at a few sets of numbers first

Take China (Sichuan Shuangliu) second-hand car export base as an example. This base will only be launched in August 2024. In 2025, it exported 23,000 vehicles, with a trade volume of 3.01 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 280% and 200% respectively.

What does this mean? In less than a year and a half, a base achieved annual exports of more than 3 billion yuan.

Let's look at another key variable: the base's exports of new energy used vehicles account for nearly 50%. This is not a transfer of the stock of traditional fuel vehicles, but an increase in new energy vehicles going out to sea.

Looking at the national market-data from the Ministry of Commerce shows that the country's second-hand car exports are expected to reach 500,000 to 600,000 units in 2025. Just six years ago, when the country's first batch of export pilots were held in 2019, only 3036 vehicles were exported throughout the year. From 3000 to 500,000, it has increased more than 160 times in six years.

But behind the prosperity, cracks have emerged

Data from the China Automobile Dealers Association shows that the average gross profit margin of the industry has dropped from 25% to 30% from 2021 to 2023 to 5% to 10% in 2025. The scale is expanding and profits are decreasing. This is a typical after-effect of running around the country. More people have joined, price wars have begun, and more overseas complaints have also increased.

2. The first half has ended: from grabbing windows to fighting for internal skills

Looking back at the path of used cars in China going out to sea, it can be divided into two stages.

First half (2019-2026): Window period bonus.

After the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, European and American brands were withdrawn from the Russian market, and China's used cars ushered in a historic opportunity. That year, the national export volume suddenly increased from 15,000 to 69,000, a year-on-year increase of more than 350%, and continued to grow in the next two years, reaching 436,000 in 2024.

The typical feature of the window period is that whoever rushed in first will make money. Zero-kilometer used cars are taking advantage of the trend-a large number of licensed and almost unused quasi-new cars are exported, bypassing the original quality assurance system, making considerable profits but deeply hidden dangers.

In the second half, starting from 2026, there will be valuable in-depth research on the Iron Curtain that meets the regulations

The turning point will arrive in November 2025

The Ministry of Commerce and other four departments have issued a document together. Starting from January 1, 2026, vehicles that have been registered for less than 180 days must be exported by the production company to produce after-sales confirmation, otherwise they will not issue certificates. At the same time, it is necessary to establish a dynamic enterprise management and a negative list mechanism.

This knife directly cuts into the gray area of zero-kilometer used cars.

At this time, the proportion of second-hand vehicles with new energy is rising rapidly. This requires overseas maintenance, parts supply and technical personnel, which is much higher than traditional fuel vehicles. Luo Lei, vice president of the China Automobile Dealers Association, mentioned a detail that there were once foreign customers who had to replace bumpers for used China cars."It took a whole year to buy one bumper."

The cost of extensive exports is being cashed in a concentrated manner

3. Chengdu's solution: turning services into new moat

Why was Chengdu the first to break the situation

First, there is a carrier. China (Sichuan Shuangliu) used car export base is the first provincial-level base in the country featuring the integration of domestic and foreign trade. It has built a three-party linkage mechanism of the government + foreign comprehensive service platform + used car export service providers to integrate vehicle source collection, compliance testing, customs clearance logistics and the entire chain resources. As of June 2026, the base has attracted more than 100 upstream and downstream companies.

Second, dare to take the lead. The "Sichuan Province Comprehensive Service System for Used Car Export Overseas" released this time is the first provincial-level plan in the country to package sales, sales, warehousing, and after-sales maintenance into a system for output. The six supporting overseas comprehensive service stations were established by the base in cooperation with Sichuan overseas enterprises-essentially moving domestic public service capabilities overseas to realize where cars are sold and services are followed.

The location of these six sites is also very particular. Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Minsk in Belarus, Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Moscow in Russia, and Baku in Azerbaijan are all located at key nodes in Central Asia, the Middle East, and the CIS along the Belt and Road Initiative, just covering the core destination market for China's used car exports.

Third, build a network. The country's eight major used car export bases jointly signed contracts to establish a resource exchange, standard coordination, and information sharing mechanism. This means that the vehicle source of Chengdu Shuangliu Base can be connected with Guangzhou Nansha's maritime logistics advantages, and can also be connected with Suifenhe's port advantages with Russia. Coastal and inland areas are no longer competitive, but a collaborative network.

The operators of the Nansha base put it bluntly: through coordinated development, vehicle sources can be exchanged and resources can be shared, and a more efficient and larger global trade network can be jointly built for China's used cars to go out to sea.

4. Three major hurdles for the decisive victory in the second half

The order of 500 million yuan seems quite lively and the service system is relatively cutting-edge, but the real challenges in the second half are hidden in these three barriers.

Pass 1: Cross-border Credit Standards

Dong Luhui, deputy director of the Shuangliu District Commerce Bureau of Chengdu City, identified the core problem-the lack of unified vehicle condition testing standards that are mutually recognized by many countries. The conditions of the same high-quality car have different definitions for different companies. This kind of opacity continues to overdraw overseas trust, which is far more difficult to break through than reshaping logistics and expanding vehicle sources. Without unified industry standards, there can be no brand premium.

Gate 2: After-sales system

At present, the layout of China's second-hand cars overseas is only in scattered exhibition halls and warehousing. A full-chain after-sales system for cross-border warranty has not yet been formed. The supply of batteries, electronic control maintenance and special parts lags behind. The higher the proportion of new energy vehicles, the more fatal this shortcoming will be.

Gate 3: Financial settlement

Narrow payment channels, large exchange rate fluctuations, and cumbersome processes have seriously dragged down small and medium-sized car companies. Luo Lei bluntly said that it is an important obstacle to the large-scale development of the industry.

Whoever can establish barriers at these three barriers first will be able to seize the pricing power in the second half

5. Final judgment: from trader to ecological builder

Back to this matchmaking meeting for 500 million orders

Its real significance lies not in the numbers themselves, but in the fact that it reveals an industry consensus: China's used cars go out to sea and can no longer follow the old path of selling them out.

Chengdu has such a path that uses bases as carriers, overseas service stations as pivots, and relies on the national collaborative network to support it to build a complete closed loop from domestic vehicle sources to overseas delivery to after-sales maintenance.

Whether this road can work depends on three variables

Whether the standards can be unified, if the collaboration agreements between the eight major bases across the country are stopped on paper, it will be just a show. The key is whether unified testing standards and credit systems can be implemented.

Whether the service can take root: 6 overseas service stations are the starting point, not the end point. Whether it can continue to operate and whether it can truly solve the problems of parts supply and maintenance response are the test standards.

Whether profits can return? When the industry's gross profit margin drops from 25% to 5%, it is a luxury to talk about the service system at this time. Compliance will eliminate a group of speculators, and the players who remain will have to find new profit model.

Alexei Podsekorkin, chairman of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association, said something worth pondering at the matchmaking meeting: The cooperation that Russia values is not simple business, but covers testing and certification, cross-border logistics, The deep binding of financial insurance and after-sales protection.

This sentence is the entire proposition of China's second-hand cars going to sea in the second half.

China's used cars are sailing from Chengdu to the world. But how far you can really drive does not depend on how hard the accelerator is pressed, but on how solid the chassis is.

Source: Xiong Yu, digital automobile export

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