As China's new energy vehicle industry continues to mature, the gradual implementation of the new export policy in 2026, and the acceleration of the global automobile electrification transformation, new energy used vehicle exports are entering a "golden development period" of policy regulation, industrial support, and strong demand.

According to industry estimates, China's second-hand car exports are expected to exceed 1 million units in 2026, with an export volume of US$15 billion, increasing its share of the global market to 10%. Among them, new energy used vehicles will become the core engine driving export growth. Faced with this blue ocean full of potential, practitioners do not need to make blind arrangements, accurately grasp differentiation opportunities and focus on core tracks to achieve efficient breakthroughs. Combined with current global market dynamics and industry practices, the following four core market opportunities deserve to be focused on.

Emerging markets sinking: Focus on Asia, Africa and Latin America to seize the incremental blue ocean with high cost performance

Emerging markets such as Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America have become the "main incremental battlefields" for the export of new energy used cars with their huge population bases, low car ownership, and strong travel demand. These markets generally have the characteristics of high new car prices, imperfect charging infrastructure, and high price sensitivity among consumers. However, the advantages of China's new energy used cars with "outstanding cost performance, reliable technology, and strong adaptability" are just in line with local market demand and have become a core choice to replace used fuel vehicles in Japan and South Korea.

From the perspective of market characteristics, Africa's car ownership per 1,000 people is only about 40, which is much lower than China's 226. Used cars account for more than 60% of local car transactions. Previously, China's used cars have long accounted for more than 70%. Market share, while China's new energy used cars are rapidly seizing the market with a price advantage of about 40% lower than Japanese models of the same class. Djibouti has become a core transit point for China's new energy used vehicles to export to Africa. 30% of China's new energy used vehicles radiate to African countries through this place. A BYD PLUS that has been in operation for three years sells for about 80,000 yuan in the African market and has a battery life of more than 400 kilometers. It is also equipped with a smart cockpit, far exceeding the product power of Japanese used fuel vehicles at the same price.

In the Latin American market, Argentina has become a new breakthrough opportunity. Starting from 2026, it will implement zero tariffs on pure electric and hybrid models with FOB prices of ≤ US$16,000 in China, with an annual quota of 50,000 vehicles (imported and locally assembled each 25,000 vehicles), the implementation cycle will be until 2029. The average price of local new cars is about US$24,700, with taxes and fees accounting for more than 50%. China brands rely on their cost advantages to accurately position their cards. In 2025, China brands will account for more than 85% of local imported electric vehicles. Second-hand hybrid models are more suitable for the reality of unstable local power and become a "bridgehead" for entering South America.

In addition, Pakistan will officially open the commercial import of used cars in September 2025. Only used cars with a vehicle age of less than 5 years are allowed to be imported before June 30, 2026. The vehicle age limit will be lifted from July 2026; At this stage, the regulatory tax is as high as 40%, which will be reduced by 10% every year starting from 2026 until it is completely cancelled in the 2029-2030 fiscal year, providing a new potential market for China's new energy used car exports. Used cars in the Central Asian markets (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.) account for 60%-80% of the entire automobile market. They are price sensitive and have strong demand for practical vehicles. Uzbekistan implements zero tariffs on pure electric vehicles. In 2023, the number of electric vehicles imported from China will increase by 320% year-on-year, becoming an important growth pole.

For enterprises, the layout of such markets can focus on models in the US$10,000 - 30,000 range, rely on sufficient domestic vehicle sources of 3-5 years old, low mileage and high-quality vehicles to create a high cost performance advantage, and at the same time rely on the "Belt and Road" initiative. Under the logistics network, we can reduce transportation costs and quickly seize market share. For example, Yongjia County relies on foreign business and overseas Chinese resources to gather domestic and foreign industry resources to export to emerging markets such as Russia and Uzbekistan. From January to July 2025, the export volume of used cars reached 738 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51.78%. Its experience is worth learning from.

Focus on segmented models: Focus on "highly adapted" models to reduce compliance and adaptation costs

There are significant differences in car use scenarios, infrastructure, and consumer preferences in different markets around the world. Companies do not need to pursue "comprehensive layout", focus on segmented models and accurately match market demand, which can not only reduce compliance and localization adaptation costs, but also improve market acceptance and achieve "precise breaking". Combined with the characteristics of each market, the following three segments are worthy of focus.

The first is to plug in and mix used cars with extended range to adapt to markets with imperfect charging infrastructure. In Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions, the coverage of charging outlets is low, and consumers are anxious about the battery life of pure electric vehicles. Plug-in hybrid and range-extended models can use both electricity and oil, which perfectly solves this pain point and becomes the local market."hot cake". Data shows that from January to April 2025, China's exports of plug-in hybrid vehicles to Africa increased by 1481% year-on-year, and the growth rate showed explosive growth, fully reflecting the market potential of such models. The Guiyang used car export base found that Kazakhstan customers prefer hybrid vehicles, and precise layout has achieved rapid growth in export volume.

The second is high-end new energy used cars, which focus on high-premium markets in Europe and the United States. European and American markets have high entry barriers and high certification costs, but there is a significant premium space, which is 20%-30% higher than that of traditional fuel-based used cars. It is suitable for enterprise layouts with technical strength and compliance capabilities. Consumers in such markets pay more attention to the technical level, intelligent configuration and brand reputation of vehicles. Companies can focus on high-end used vehicle models such as BYD Tang and NIO ES6, and rely on the technological leadership of China's new energy vehicles to make up for the shortcomings of high certification costs. At the same time, focus on after-sales protection, enhance brand reputation, and gradually open up the market.

The third is practical models that adapt to special road conditions and deeply explore regional characteristic markets. Consumers in the Central Asian and African markets pay more attention to the practicality of vehicles. They can focus on laying out practical models with low mileage and 3-5 years old to reduce the risks caused by vehicle age limits, and at the same time control maintenance costs to further improve cost performance; The Middle East market has a hot climate and many desert roads. SUV models are favored by local consumers because they adapt to desert climate and road conditions, accounting for 62% of China's exports of used cars to the Middle East. Companies can focus on deploying such models and optimize battery high temperature resistance to adapt to the local climate. The Guiyang used car export base also tailor-made vehicles for personalized adjustments such as reinforced chassis and adapting to local fuel standards to improve vehicle adaptability in response to overseas market demand.

Industrial chain collaboration: Build an integrated system of "testing-preparation-logistics-after-sales"

The core competitiveness of new energy used car exports lies not only in the cost performance and technical advantages of the vehicle itself, but also in the synergy capabilities of the entire industry chain. At present, the cross-border e-commerce infrastructure is fully mature, and the simple "car selling" model is no longer suitable for market competition. Only by building an integrated system of "testing-preparation-logistics-after-sales" can we enhance core competitiveness and achieve long-term sustainable development.

In the testing and servicing process, companies can cooperate with authoritative organizations such as China Automobile Research Institute and 268V New Energy Testing Center to establish a standardized testing process, strictly control core indicators such as battery health and safety, and ensure that vehicles meet target market access requirements; At the same time, a professional servicing center will be established to renovate, repair, and maintain vehicles, repair appearance wear, optimize vehicle performance, improve vehicle quality, and enhance the trust of overseas consumers. The Guiyang used car export base has built a complete ecological chain of "vehicle collection-preparation-testing-customs declaration-logistics-overseas services", attracting more than 30 upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to gather and improve the efficiency of industrial collaboration.

In the logistics and customs clearance process, we can rely on logistics networks such as China-Europe freight trains, Southeast Asia New Land-Sea Corridor, and car ro-ro ships to optimize transportation routes, reduce logistics costs and shorten transportation timeliness; cooperate with professional customs brokers to familiarize themselves with the target market customs clearance process and Access standards, prepare relevant documents in advance, and avoid vehicles being detained and orders being lost due to compliance issues. Through cooperation with Horgos, Xinjiang, Yongjia County shares the advantages of the triple superimposed policy of "supporting area + comprehensive protection area + development zone" to achieve a 20% reduction in customs clearance time for goods and a "senseless" customs clearance at night, which has greatly improved customs clearance efficiency. Guiyang's used car export base has also innovatively launched a "door-to-door" dedicated logistics model that directly reaches overseas warehouses, shortening transportation time by nearly two-thirds compared with traditional methods. At the same time, it leverages the cross-border e-commerce B2B direct export model to create a "complete vehicle + spare parts" collaborative sea. A new pattern.

In the after-sales and service links, it is necessary to break the dilemma of "focusing on sales and neglecting services". Relying on the overseas service network of the main engine factory, or cooperating with local companies to establish after-sales outlets to provide battery testing, maintenance, quality assurance, parts supply and other services to solve the problem. Overseas consumers have worries about "buying cars is easy but selling cars is difficult". In 2026, the Ministry of Commerce will support enterprises in exploring the markets of countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, provide additional subsidies to used cars exported to these countries, and encourage enterprises to establish overseas after-sales service networks. Relying on public overseas warehouses, Yongjia County has established a data sharing database, optimized logistics distribution paths, coordinated supply chain, after-sales service and other models, innovatively integrated the two warehouse functions of "front warehouse + overseas warehouse", synchronously linked cross-border e-commerce industrial parks, and superimposed on establishing self-operated overseas sales outlets and after-sales service outlets, opening up a new path for enterprises to sail from the park to the global market. The Guiyang used car export base has also built 9 overseas operation centers in Minsk Prefecture and other places in Belarus to provide local customers with localized warehousing, sales and maintenance services. The 48-hour after-sales response mechanism has greatly improved customer satisfaction.

Mining policy dividends: Relying on supporting policies to reduce operating costs

The national level and local governments continue to introduce supporting policies to reduce costs and increase efficiency for new energy used vehicle exporting enterprises and broaden access to the sea. If enterprises can accurately tap policy dividends, they can effectively improve profit margins and enhance market competitiveness. Currently, we can focus on three major types of policy dividends.

The first is financial support policies. The China Development Bank has launched a "Special Loan for Used Car Export", with an interest rate of 1.5 percentage points lower than ordinary foreign trade loans, and allows overseas warehouse vehicles to be used as collateral, effectively alleviating the financing difficulties and expensive financing problems of enterprises, and providing enterprises with expanded vehicle sourcing and layout overseas markets. Provide financial support. In addition, Yongjia County innovatively launched the "fast tax refund + credit" model, established a "green channel" for used car export tax rebates, and handled a total of 191 million yuan in tax rebates for used car export enterprises, greatly alleviating the pressure on corporate capital turnover. The used car export base in Guiyang has also taken advantage of policy advantages to shorten the tax refund cycle from the original 3 months to 30 days, and accelerated the speed of regular orders to 3-5 working days, further reducing corporate capital costs.

The second is the export base support policy. Tianjin, Shandong, Shenzhen, Yongjia, Guiyang and other places have built automobile export bases, integrating various resources such as testing, preparation, logistics, and customs declaration to provide integrated services for enterprises and reduce operating costs of enterprises. For example, Yongjia County has built the city's first automobile full life cycle industrial park and landed in the Yongjia Industrial Intelligent Manufacturing Center (front warehouse) in Horgos, Xinjiang. The entire chain promotes the replacement of old automobiles for new ones and accelerates the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade of automobile consumption; The public security department has set up the city's first corporate public security network in the automobile industry park, setting up a traffic violation handling window and a vehicle management office business window to complete vehicle illegal handling, registration and transfer and other business processing within one working day, which has greatly improved the operation of the enterprise. efficiency. The Guiyang used car export base relies on the exclusive policy support of Guiyang Comprehensive Insurance Zone to open priority channels for customs clearance, which improves vehicle customs clearance efficiency by more than 50%. At the same time, it provides enterprises with overseas warehouse and parts sharing services, exhibition docking, cross-border e-commerce marketing and other customer expansion support to help enterprises reduce operating costs.

The third is standard export and market expansion policies. The "Export Quality Requirements for Used Passenger Vehicles" formulated under the leadership of China Automobile Dealers Association has been adopted by ASEAN as a procurement reference. Enterprises can rely on domestic standards to promote the integration of test reports with international standards, reduce overseas certification costs, and enhance the recognition of vehicles in overseas markets. At the same time, local governments actively organize key enterprises to participate in international exhibitions on used car exports, assisting enterprises in obtaining brand agency rights, connecting with overseas customers, and broadening channels for sailing. Yongjia County organized key enterprises to participate in international exhibitions on used car exports, assisted enterprises in obtaining brand agency rights such as Ideal, signed contracts with 15 new energy brands such as Galaxy and Deep Blue, and promoted the rapid development of export business. Guiyang used car export base also deeply participates in various international exhibitions such as the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo and the China Automobile Circulation Industry Conference, organizes supply and demand matchmaking meetings, accurately connects global cooperation resources, and helps enterprises explore overseas markets.

Conclusion: Precise layout and seize the golden opportunity of new energy used cars going out to sea

The blue ocean opportunities for the export of new energy used cars have clearly emerged, but behind the opportunities are comprehensive tests of the company's compliance capabilities, market insight, and industrial chain coordination capabilities. The implementation of the new export policy in 2026 will eliminate non-compliant enterprises and provide broader development space for enterprises that operate in compliance and focus on quality; and the differentiated needs of the global market also provide enterprises with the possibility of "accurately breaking the situation".

For practitioners, there is no need to blindly pursue "big and comprehensive", but to focus on emerging markets, deeply cultivate segmented models, build an integrated industrial chain, tap policy dividends, based on compliance, quality as the core, and service as the support. Only then can we gain a foothold in the new energy used car export track and achieve a breakthrough. In the future, with the continuous upgrading of China's new energy vehicle technology, the further opening up of the global market, and the continuous improvement of the entire industrial chain system, new energy used vehicle exports are expected to usher in more explosive growth and become an important support for the "global leader" of China's automobile industry and bring more development opportunities to practitioners.

Source: Zhixun Car Going to Sea

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