Sure enough, exports are the biggest hope of China car companies in 2026.

In the first-month sales data of major vehicle companies released one after another in recent days, there has been no unexpected decline. However, in this cold winter, exports have become a rare highlight: Chery has 119,600 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 48.1%; SAIC has 104,600 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 50.56%; BYD has 100,500 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 51.47%.

As the top three exporters of China automobile companies in 2025, the pace in the first month of 2026 is actually so neat. Not only have export volumes reached 10W +, but the growth rates are also around 50%. At this beginning of the year full of many uncertainties, it points out a clear path for other small partners.

East is not bright in the West

The decline in the auto market in January was actually expected by the industry. Not only was there a policy factor in the decline of new energy subsidies, but the three-month year-on-year decline in the domestic passenger car market in the fourth quarter of last year also laid the foundation in advance, indicating that the consumption potential of the domestic market has reached a bottleneck stage, and the trend of fierce competition for stocks has become increasingly obvious. In this situation, the overseas market has become the biggest variable, especially those players who have made early arrangements in the overseas market and invested heavily. They have gained a lot in the past month. Not only Chery, SAIC and BYD mentioned above, the three companies that eat meat overseas, including Geely and Great Wall, have also achieved considerable growth in overseas markets.

Take Chery, the export champion in January, as an example. Among its overall sales volume of 200,300 vehicles, 119,600 vehicles in the overseas market accounted for nearly 60%, a year-on-year increase of 48.1%. In contrast, its sales volume of 80,700 vehicles in the domestic market means that 62,800 vehicles were sold less than in the same period last year. Although the overseas increase failed to fully fill the gap in the domestic market, it greatly alleviated the overall pressure. More importantly, with its stable performance overseas, it has exceeded 100,000 vehicles for nine consecutive months, continuing to lead the export track of China car companies.

A similar situation also happened to BYD. Its domestic market fell very significantly in January. The domestic sales data of 109,600 vehicles dropped by more than 50% compared with the same period last year. The only bright spot was the overseas market, which not only achieved 51.47%. Growth, its proportion of overall sales has also reached almost 50 - 50 split between domestic and overseas, which is very important to resist the growth bottleneck risk of the domestic market.

The only exception among the export "troika" is SAIC. This former leader not only regained the throne this time (the sales volume of 327,000 units exceeded the second place by nearly 57,000 units, with a very obvious advantage), but what is even more rare is that SAIC has achieved simultaneous growth at home and abroad, as well as joint ventures and independent enterprises, which was very rare in January. Specifically, SAIC contributed 104,600 vehicles overseas in January, a year-on-year increase of 50.56%, and domestic sales were 222,400 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 14.4%.

It is worth mentioning that SAIC's recovery has been greatly contributed by its own brands. Its sales in January reached 214,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 39.6%-which translates into sales figures, which means a real increase of 60,700 units. What is the concept? You know, SAIC's overall increase in January was 63,000 units, and the contribution of independent brands exceeded 96%! Further breakdown, SAIC GM's sales of 105,000 units still contribute half of the country, but the faster growth rate is SAIC passenger cars. Its sales in the first month reached 77,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 53.8%, and its volume has surpassed SAIC GM and SAIC Volkswagen, the two joint venture brothers, and has become the most attractive business segment of SAIC Group.

MG is the undisputed number one contributor to the rise of SAIC Passenger Cars, and MG's brilliance is inseparable from overseas markets. This brand, which has been the "Independent Brand in Europe Sales" for 11 consecutive years, has been in Europe in the past year. It has achieved 300,000 sales, and successfully advanced to second place in monthly sales in the UK market in December last year. In January this year, MG continued to maintain good momentum, delivering nearly 26,000 vehicles in Europe, a year-on-year increase of about 15%. nbsp;

Going out to see Europe this year

There is no doubt that those who can eat meat in overseas markets must be players who have done their homework in advance and made arrangements in advance. In this regard, among the "troika", Chery and SAIC have the earliest and broadest overseas deployment. BYD is regarded as a "recruit", but it has invested the most in recent years.

In the overseas map of China automobile companies, regional markets such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, CIS countries, the Middle East, and Africa have basically explored mature and feasible systems. Now, what we strive for is localized operations and practical service implementation, making it more imaginative. There is room for growth in developed economies, such as Europe and North America, especially the former.

The reason for this determination is that China-EU consultations on countervailing cases for electric vehicles have ushered in breakthrough progress. The new price commitment agreement has replaced the previous countervailing duty policy. According to the prediction of Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the Passenger Transport Association, within three years, China's electric vehicle exports to the EU will maintain an average annual growth rate of around 20%. According to UBS's forecast, the share of Chinese brand cars in the European market is expected to increase from the current 5% to 15% in the next five years.

Based on this, China car companies are bound to experience breakthrough growth in the European market in 2026.

Take Germany, the core market in Europe, as an example. In the past January, BYD's new car sales in Germany reached 2629, a more than 10-fold increase compared with the same period last year. What is more topical is that BYD's sales figures are already Tesla's. More than twice, and this was achieved against the background of a 6.6% decline in new car sales in the German market during the same period. In addition, BYD surpassed Tesla in Germany and the United Kingdom last year, and this advantage is now expanding further.

In fact, BYD's presence in Europe is already high. For example, in 2025, BYD sold 94,000 new cars in Belgium, nearly 80,000 in the UK, and 41,000 in Spain. What is really worth looking forward to is that once BYD's Hungarian factory really goes into operation ahead of schedule this year, its voice in the European market will be greatly enhanced, because it can provide a maximum annual production capacity of 300,000 units.

Of course, in Europe, SAIC has more say. After all, MG has been famous here for a long time and has worked hard to sell 300,000 vehicles a year, becoming SAIC's pillar overseas, which is very fragrant to any China brand. Therefore, SAIC is accelerating its localization efforts in Europe. Not only is its factory in Spain expected to roll off the production line of its first electric vehicle in the fourth quarter of next year, but it has also started preliminary work on building another new factory in Eastern Europe (Hungary or the Czech Republic).

As for Chery, the export leader, although the CIS, the Middle East, and Central and American/South America are still the three major regional markets with Chery's largest overseas sales in the past year, changes are quietly occurring. In its data for the last month at the end of 2025, The European market has leapt to the top spot. In terms of localization, thanks to the commissioning of its factory in Barcelona, Spain, VCIC has already had a production capacity of 200,000 units in Europe. In the next step, it will build a factory in the UK, which will expand to include Ireland and even Australia. Right-hand market coverage.

In addition, not only is the "Troika" expanding its expansion into the European market, Geely, Great Wall, Chang 'an and other car companies have also begun to deploy. After successively launching their own brand products here, relevant factory building plans have also been entered. It depends on who moves faster.

Jiaxian view 

More than ten days ago, the author once asserted that those who win overseas will win the world in 2026. Now, with the release of data for the first month, it is not difficult to find that among the "troika", not only SAIC relied on overseas countries to reach the top, but even Chery and BYD relied on the increase in overseas markets to make up for the domestic gap. Even Geely and Great Wall also maintained growth with the outstanding performance of overseas markets.

Of course, it is rare for players like SAIC to be able to stay behind both domestic and overseas. After all, competition in the domestic market is destined to become fierce this year. Because of this, players who can seize opportunities in overseas markets in 2026 are destined to not lose too much.

In addition, 2026 has just begun, and the real wrestling in the auto market will not start until after the Spring Festival. In the window period remaining for the month, car companies still have time to make adjustments. Even if some players achieved multiple fronts in January, it is still too early to get off to the top.

Finally, for China brand cars to truly take root overseas, they have long passed the stage of simply exporting products and services. The systematic export of brands, technologies and culture is becoming a trend. Who can do a better job in localized operations is the key variable of this long run.

Source: Driver Auto

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