Good Wish, Hard push

As growth in the Chinese automobile market continues to stagnate, many manufacturers have set their sights overseas. However, it hasn’t been very easy for them to achieve their goals. According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Chinese automobile exports last year totaled 947,300 vehicles, down approximately 1 percent point from the previous year.

In an interview with the National Business Daily, a representative from Lifan Motors explained some of the reasons behind Chinese manufacturers’ poor performance in foreign markets. According to the representative, the problem that exporters are currently facing is that, although they have set up businesses overseas, their capital investment hasn’t managed to keep up. Another factor hindering export growth has been the depreciating value of foreign currencies when compared with the RMB.

CAAM statistics show that a number of China’s largest automobile exporters, including Chery, Geely, Great Wall, JAC Motor and Shanghai GM, have seen their automobile exports fall. Geely’s decrease in exports was incredible dramatic, falling 47.99 percent from 2013 to 2014. Great Wall’s exports, meanwhile, fell 27.14 percent.

In order to combat these factors, manufacturers have taken steps to set up facilities in foreign markets. Last October, Lifan signed an investment agreement with the government of Russia’s Lipetsk Oblast to set up a $300 million automobile factory in the area. Lifan has already set up five factories overseas.