LITTLETON, Colorado, Oct 30 (Reuters) – China’s booming car sector has upended the entire global carmaker industry over the past decade, especially its EV producers which have supplanted combustion engine cars in sales at home and have flooded global markets with record exports.
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China’s top policymakers omitted electric vehicles from their list of strategic industries for the 2026-2030 development agenda, which is China’s main industrial policy blueprint.
At home, the subsidy cuts are expected to trigger much-needed rationalisation and downsizing of the bloated sector, which features more than 150 separate car producers.
With production and exports of Chinese EVs now likely to contract, formerly clogged foreign markets may start to present growth opportunities for rival car makers in the years ahead.
Below is a breakdown of the top international destinations for Chinese EV sales in recent years to provide an overview of potential growth markets for other car producers as Chinese firms start to retreat.
MASSIVE REACH
Over the first nine months of 2025 alone, China reported EV export sales to over 200 countries and territories, according to data from energy think tank Ember, earning total receipts of close to $48 billion.
The top overall destination from January to September this year was Belgium, with roughly $5 billion worth of sales.
Brazil, Australia and United Arab Emirates are also in the top 10 of Chinese EV destinations this year and purchased another $6.5 billion of Chinese EVs between them, underscoring the wide span of markets tapped by Chinese vendors.
From a regional perspective, Europe has been the top market for Chinese EV exports, with the continent accounting for about half of all Chinese EV exports since the start of 2018. So far in 2025, Europe has imported around $20 billion of Chinese EVs.
Other Asian countries have been the next largest segment accounting for around 20% of total exports since 2018 and around $12.5 billion this year.
Latin America and the Middle East are the next largest markets, with sales of around $6 billion and $4.5 billion respectively so far in 2025.
RAPID GROWTH
Even as European and Asian nations snapped up record volumes of China-made EVs, EV exporters expanded sales into other regions so that every major car market globally has now gotten at least a taste of Chinese EV offerings.
So far in 2025, Africa has shown the largest year-over-year expansion in imports of Chinese EVs, with the continent recording a 184% surge in Chinese EV import purchases during January to September compared to the same months in 2024.
Africa’s roughly $1 billion in Chinese EV imports so far this year is small compared to Europe’s $20 billion, but is still more than double the amount recorded into Africa during all of 2024, Ember data shows.
The Middle East recorded the next largest jump in Chinese EV imports so far in 2025, with a 71% rise from the same months in 2024 to around $4.5 billion.
Oceania – mainly Australia and New Zealand – recorded a 45% rise in sales so far this year, while Asia (+43%) Europe (+20%) and Latin America (+17%) all also registered steep year-over-year expansions in Chinese EV imports.
Indeed, the only region to register a contraction in Chinese EV imports has been North America, which has registered a 42% contraction in Chinese EV imports so far in 2025 from the year before due mainly to the ongoing U.S.-China trade spat.
SURGING SALES
Despite needing to aggressively discount EVs in order to secure sales in certain markets, the total value of export receipts Chinese firms have earned from EV exports is significant.
Fourteen different countries have spent a billion dollars or more on Chinese EV imports so far in 2025, and a further 12 countries have spent between $500 million and $999 million.
Perhaps most impressively, 31 different nations – ranging from Ecuador to Armenia and Tajikistan to Myanmar – spent between $100 million and $499 million on Chinese EV imports so far this year.
Such a wide span of fast-growing markets should represent potentially lucrative hunting grounds for other car producers in the years ahead, especially if the volumes of China-made EVs drops off sharply as the sector’s consolidation gets underway.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.
Reporting by Gavin Maguire; Editing by Sonali Paul
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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
