The battle for overseas markets by Chinese auto companies continues to escalate. Last year, China's auto sales exceeded 30 million units, of which about 4.91 million were sold overseas, with the export growth rate higher than the overall growth rate, and a number of organizations have predicted that Chinese auto brands will set their sights more on overseas markets this year.

The efforts made by Chinese brands for globalization can be more intuitively felt at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show. Last year, a large number of overseas dealers were present at Auto Shanghai, and this year many booths may be negotiating an export deal.

Azera had people specializing in business development communicating with overseas guests, and Ideal's booth was filled with businessmen talking about export business.

There was also a noticeable increase in the proportion of foreign faces in the arena, mostly overseas media and dealerships invited by auto brands to visit the show. Chery invited as many as 3,000 overseas guests this time, and the booth was packed when it held its overseas field launch that afternoon. Zero Run and Xiaopeng also have their own specialized overseas exhibition group, Xiaopeng Automobile CEO He Xiaopeng deliberately learn the language of different countries to say hello.

Xiaomi and BYD attracted the attention of overseas media, with some people holding cameras to take photos of the exterior details of the show cars and frequently opening the front hood to check the internal structure.

Another notable change is the introduction of more global models by local Chinese auto brands, all of which are new energy models. GAC EA and Geely Galaxy have both released their first global strategic models, and Geely's Collage, built in partnership with Volvo, has released the 09 MHEV 4WD Global Edition.

China's first global model is thought to be the MG4 EV from SAIC MG, which can sell up to 130,000 units a year overseas. Several Chinese brands have already launched global models, which are sold in many countries and regions other than China.

In the past, the models of Chinese auto brands were mainly oriented to the domestic market, and the products sold to foreign markets need to be adapted and developed according to different local conditions, and eventually sold through local dealers.

A vehicle product manager told Interfax that the global version of the model means that auto brands have already begun to consider the needs and technical standards of other markets from the perspective of product research and development, and this early consideration also avoids the cost increase brought about by secondary development.

The launch of global edition models is one of the steps in the globalization of Chinese auto brands, which cannot be seen at auto shows, but are setting up factories around the world to start localized production. Generally speaking, automotive exports are divided into the stages of whole-vehicle product trade exports, CKD (bulk parts manufacturing), and localized production, and many Chinese brands are now seeking the third stage of automotive exports, replicating the path of multinational automotive companies' expansion in the past.

China's new energy vehicles have replicated the cost-performance advantage that fuel vehicles used to have in global competition. Previously analyzed by UBS when it dismantled the 2022 BYD Seal, BYD still has a 25% lower cost advantage over European and American auto brands when it sets up production plants in Europe, as the model's self-supplied parts rate is twice the global auto industry average.

At the same time, conditions for the internationalization of Chinese auto brands are improving, and Chinese brand awareness has increased. According to the International Electric Vehicle Consumer Confidence Survey 2024, recently released by global consultancy AlixPartners, between 47 and 71 percent of consumers surveyed in mature markets such as Germany, the United States and Japan said they knew of at least one Chinese automotive brand, with the BYD brand at the top of the list.

Successful globalization of a brand usually requires two elements - overseas awareness and synchronized global sales launches of new models - and Chinese auto brands are now working hard to make both a reality.