Shanghai’s Pre-Owned Vehicle Exports: A New Journey in Exploring the Global Market
On the grand stage of global trade, pre-owned vehicle exports are gradually emerging as a new highlight in China’s foreign trade sector. Shanghai, a vibrant international metropolis, leveraging its strong economic strength, comprehensive automotive industry system, and convenient transportation hub advantages, has actively joined the wave of pre-owned vehicle exports, striving to explore the global market and write a new chapter in this field.
Policy Support: Unlocking the Door to Exports
For a long time, China refrained from opening up the pre-owned vehicle export business, aiming to promote the development of the domestic automotive industry and safeguard new car sales to drive the growth of the entire automotive industrial chain. However, with the continuous development and expansion of the domestic automotive industry, the market situation has undergone changes. In May 2019, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Public Security, and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued the “Notice on Supporting the Launch of Pre-Owned Vehicle Export Business in Regions with Mature Conditions”. Like a spring thunder, this notice kicked off the journey of pre-owned vehicle exports. As one of the first 10 provinces and cities to carry out pre-owned vehicle export business, Shanghai embraced new development opportunities. The introduction of this policy not only expanded the sales channels for the pre-owned vehicle market but also further stimulated the demand for new car consumption by accelerating the circulation of pre-owned vehicles. Since then, the number of regions allowed to engage in pre-owned vehicle export business has gradually increased. By 2024, five ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Commerce decided to launch pre-owned vehicle export business nationwide, fully opening up the channel for pre-owned vehicle exports and creating a broader policy space for Shanghai’s pre-owned vehicle exports.
To further promote the development of the pre-owned vehicle export business, Shanghai issued the “Shanghai Action Plan for Accelerating Automobile Replacement Consumption (2024 – 2027)” in July 2024. In terms of pre-owned vehicle business, it put forward a series of specific measures, including subsidizing qualified pre-owned vehicle enterprises, encouraging vehicle manufacturers to develop pre-owned vehicle business, introducing and fostering well-known appraisal and auction institutions, improving the administrative efficiency of pre-owned vehicle ownership transfer, and optimizing the management process of pre-owned vehicle exports. Recently, Shanghai has also released the “Action Plan for Promoting Pre-Owned Vehicle Exports”, which conducts comprehensive layout around four aspects: building a comprehensive service platform for pre-owned vehicle exports, supporting the expansion of the scale of pre-owned vehicle exports, enhancing export facilitation, and improving service guarantees. With a clear goal, by 2027, it aims to cultivate 3 – 5 leading enterprises in pre-owned vehicle exports, and the scale of pre-owned vehicle exports in the city will reach 50,000 units per year. The continuous efforts of these policies have injected strong impetus into Shanghai’s pre-owned vehicle exports.
Vehicle Source Advantages: Large Stock and Efficient Circulation
As an important automobile consumption market in China, Shanghai has a huge number of vehicle ownership and strong demand for vehicle replacement. By the end of 2024, the number of vehicle ownership in Shanghai exceeded 5 million, making it one of the only 7 cities in China with vehicle ownership exceeding 5 million. According to data from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, replacement consumption accounts for more than 30% of Shanghai’s new car consumption; among which, replacement consumption accounts for more than 50% of the new fuel – vehicle consumption. In recent years, the ratio of new car sales to pre-owned vehicle transactions in Shanghai is close to 1:1, indicating great potential for the growth of automobile replacement consumption. Such a large number of vehicle ownership and active demand for replacement provide a stable and sufficient source of vehicles for Shanghai’s pre-owned vehicle exports.
From the production side, Shanghai’s automotive industrial chain is also very developed. Public data shows that there are more than 10,000 enterprises in Shanghai’s automotive industrial chain. In 2024, Shanghai’s automobile output reached 180,7500 units. Taking Jiading District of Shanghai as an example, its annual total output value of the automotive industry reached 304.51 billion yuan, accounting for 64.9% of the total output value of the district’s above – scale industries. In addition, according to data, from January to July 2024, the output value of Shanghai’s automobile parts and accessories manufacturing industry reached 198.99 billion yuan, indicating a large – scale parts industry. The comprehensive automotive industry system can not only provide a rich source of vehicles but also offer strong technical support and quality assurance for pre-owned vehicle exports. Based on this, Shanghai’s previous relevant plans encouraged qualified vehicle manufacturers to develop pre-owned vehicle business and introduce and foster well-known appraisal and auction institutions; while the recently released “Action Plan” supports pre-owned vehicle export enterprises to cooperate with enterprises with automobile modification qualifications, and at the same time encourages automobile manufacturers to share after – sales service networks with export enterprises, so as to improve the quality of vehicle sources, the adaptability to export markets, and the level of post – sales maintenance guarantees.
Market Demand: Great Potential in Emerging Markets
Currently, the global pre-owned vehicle market presents a diversified demand situation. In emerging market countries such as Africa and Central Asia, due to the underdeveloped local large – scale transportation infrastructure such as railways, the movement of people and goods mainly relies on road transportation, so there is no high requirement for the mileage of vehicles. This market characteristic provides a broad space for China’s pre-owned vehicle exports, especially those from Shanghai.
In recent years, with the continuous progress of China’s automobile manufacturing technology, domestic automobiles have gradually gained higher recognition in the international market. Especially with the rapid development of new energy vehicles, Chinese new energy pre-owned vehicles are highly favored in the overseas market. Taking pre-owned vehicle export enterprises in Shanghai as an example, Zhang Wen, the general manager of Shanghai Leiyin Automobile Service Co., Ltd., said that countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Tanzania have a strong demand for Chinese used electric vehicles. Ethiopia announced last year that it could only import electric vehicles, and Jordan purchased 87,000 used electric vehicles from China last year. “The recognition of Chinese new car brands in foreign countries is gradually increasing, which has driven the sales of pre-owned vehicles. In the past two years, the number of pre-owned vehicles of SAIC Group’s Roewe and MG brands exported by us has begun to increase.” Zhang Wen introduced, “Two years ago, almost all the pre-owned vehicles we exported were joint – venture brands, mainly Volkswagen and Toyota. Since 2022, independent brands have accounted for 60%, and this year, the export of pre-owned vehicles of independent brands is about nearly 6,000 units.” A series of data and cases fully show that the overseas market has a strong demand for Chinese pre-owned vehicles, especially those exported from Shanghai.
Service Upgrade: One – Stop Service Improves Efficiency
In order to improve the efficiency and service level of pre-owned vehicle exports, Shanghai has actively built a one – stop service platform. On November 20, 2024, the Shanghai Port Comprehensive Service Center for Pre-Owned Vehicle Exports was completed and officially put into use at the Shanghai Haitong International Automobile Terminal. As the first pre-owned vehicle export inspection point within a port area in China, this service center was established by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Group Co., Ltd., and can provide one – stop motor vehicle registration and port area logistics comprehensive services for pre-owned vehicle export enterprises in Shanghai and surrounding provinces and cities.
After submitting relevant materials to the service center, pre-owned vehicle export enterprises can transport the pre-owned vehicles to be exported to the service center within the port area, and handle procedures such as pre-owned vehicle inspection, pre-owned vehicle “transfer for export” registration in a one – stop manner, and apply to the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce for export licenses, customs declaration, and shipment for export. Che Yuewen, the vice president of Shanghai Xietong, said: “In the past, the entire process of license plate registration and cancellation was quite troublesome. Pre-owned vehicles had to go through license plate registration, cancellation, export, transfer at the vehicle management office in the urban area, and then transport the vehicles here. The transportation process was cumbersome, and it took nearly two weeks to complete a set of procedures. After the service center is put into use, the time can be shortened by at least half.” This not only reduces the risks and transportation costs caused by multiple movements of exported vehicles but also greatly improves the efficiency of comprehensive certificate handling services, providing great convenience for pre-owned vehicle export enterprises.
In addition, Shanghai is also actively exploring the use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to participate in the systematic inspection of pre-owned vehicle conditions, and using blockchain technology for vehicle export traceability, further improving the informationization and intelligent level of pre-owned vehicle exports, and laying a solid foundation for building a more complete ecological system for pre-owned vehicle exports.
Challenges and Opportunities Coexist
Although Shanghai’s pre-owned vehicle export business has made remarkable progress, it still faces some challenges in the development process. At this stage, the overall quality of China’s pre-owned vehicles varies greatly, and the overseas maintenance system has not been fully established. If the exported pre-owned vehicles lack quality and post – sales service guarantees, it may affect the reputation of local automotive brands. In addition, there are a large number of pre-owned vehicle dealers engaged in export business, but their scales are small, and the sustainability and consistency of their operations are poor. For the high – investment work such as building a unified vehicle source standard and an overseas after – sales service system, which has a long payback period and obvious spillover effects, most practitioners have low enthusiasm.
However, challenges and opportunities always coexist. With the gradual recovery of the global economy and the rapid development of emerging market countries, the demand for the overseas pre-owned vehicle market will continue to grow. Shanghai has advantages such as rich vehicle sources, a complete industrial system, convenient transportation, and policy support, and is fully capable of making greater breakthroughs in the field of pre-owned vehicle exports. By building a complete ecological system and connecting the entire ecological closed loop of vehicle source integration, cross – border logistics, overseas after – sales service, and data tracking, Shanghai’s pre-owned vehicles are expected to occupy an important position in the global market.
Shanghai’s pre-owned vehicle exports are standing at a new historical starting point. Relying on favorable factors such as policy support, vehicle source advantages, market demand, and service upgrading, it is actively exploring the global market. In the process of addressing challenges, it continuously improves its own development model and enhances its competitiveness. It is believed that in the near future, Shanghai’s pre-owned vehicles will shine brilliantly in the international market and make greater contributions to China’s foreign trade exports and the development of the automotive industry.