China has exported over 5 million vehicles to date in 2026… with a not insignificant amount making it to Malaysia.
No, it is not just your eyes deceiving you. There really are more Chinese cars on the road. And it is not just here in Malaysia either. Markets around the world are experiencing the same influx, with the latest figures showing that China has now exported more than one million vehicles in a single month for the very first time!
According to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China exported 1.037 million vehicles in June 2026 alone. That is up 11.6% from May, and a remarkable 75.1% compared to June last year. The momentum has been just as strong across the first half of the year too, with exports reaching 5.096 million vehicles between January and June, representing a 65.3% year-on-year increase.
This achievement is particularly impressive given the speed of China’s rise. Between 2018 and 2020, the country exported around one million vehicles annually before first breaking the two-million mark in 2021. Exports then climbed to 3.11 million in 2022, 4.91 million in 2023, 5.86 million in 2024 and 7.1 million units in 2025.
Unsurprisingly, new energy vehicles (NEVs) continue to account for a growing share of China’s exports. June alone saw 523,000 NEVs shipped overseas, up 17.2% month-on-month and a staggering 160% year-on-year. Conventional petrol and diesel-powered vehicles made up the remaining 514,000 units, rising 6.4% month-on-month and 32.7% year-on-year.
For the year to date, NEV exports have reached 2.355 million units, a 120% increase over the same period last year, while exports of conventional vehicles stand at 2.741 million units, up 35.5%. That means NEVs now account for 46.2% of all vehicle exports… or almost one out of every two vehicles leaving China.
Interestingly, while exports continue to underpin China’s automotive industry, CAAM noted that the domestic market is facing mounting pressure, with vehicle sales declining by double-digit percentages. It perhaps explains why so many Chinese brands continue to expand overseas, even into markets where conditions are not so favourable…
In fact, a quick look at the local sales charts reveals that Omoda Jaecoo, Jetour, BYD and Chery have already established themselves within the country’s top 10 best-selling automotive brands this first half of the year. Further down the top 20 meanwhile are GWM, iCAUR, Zeekr and MG. And altogether, eight of Malaysia’s top 20 automotive brands are now Chinese, with almost all of them having entered our market within just the past few years.
