Room for growth in overseas market, says BAIC

BAIC Group expects its overseas business to gain momentum this year as made-in-China vehicles are winning broader recognition.

The Beijing-based company shipped 24,000 vehicles overseas in the first two months of this year, up 61.34 percent year-on-year. Of these, exports of its Beijing brand passenger vehicles soared 132.7 percent from the same period last year.

Last year, BAIC Group exported 104,000 vehicles. Of these, passenger vehicles accounted for 18,215 units.

Deliveries of passenger vehicles are expected to reach 30,000 units this year in overseas markets, said Patrick Yang, general manager of BAIC International Development Co, in an interview with China Daily last week.

BAIC International Development Co, established in 2013, now has around 120 employees. They sell the car group's passenger vehicles in 89 countries and regions around the world.

Yang said vehicles from Chinese brands are well accepted in many markets from the Middle East to Africa.

"Our products have a certain reputation in overseas markets. In Saudi Arabia, Chinese automakers have a total market share about 20 percent," said Yang.

"In order to advance our business, distributor partners in Saudi Arabia built a three-story building as the operational headquarters for BAIC, which reflects the strong confidence of local investors in us," said Yang.

China's auto industry has been making progress over the past few years, which has allowed it to take on rivals, mainly Japanese and South Korean brands.

Yang said it has something to do with Chinese carmakers' positioning as well. "Chinese vehicles used to be seen as merely tools of transport, so local customers would like them to be sold at prices as low as possible.

"But we are now moving upward with our competitive new-generation products, like the X7 and BJ40 series."

Among high-profile buyers of the Beijing BJ40 SUV are Francois Steyn, a professional rugby union player in South Africa. And in Costa Rica, they include Keylor Navas, a goalkeeper for Premier League football club Nottingham Forest.

Its compact Beijing X55 SUV, which was introduced into South Africa in late 2022, was named as a finalist in the Car of the Year competition in the country in January.

Yang said the average price of the company's passenger vehicles will rise to $14,000 this year from around $12,000 in 2022.

In the commercial vehicle sector, BAIC has been China's top exporter for 12 years in a row, with the cumulative exports exceeding 760,000 units.

BAIC Foton, the group's commercial vehicle arm, has assembly plants in more than 20 countries.

In 2022, China's carmakers exported 3.11 million vehicles, up 54.4 percent year-on-year, ranking second only to Japan, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The figure is expected to reach 3.73 million units this year, which will mark a 20 percent increase from 2022, said the CAAM.