China Will Now Allow Used Car Exports To Boost Domestic Sales

The Chinese Commerce Ministry is now allowing exports of second-hand cars in a move to boost domestic sales.

Greenlighting exports of second hand vehicles comes after sales have dropped in China for the first time since the 1990s, Reuters reports. The Chinese government has already handed out tax cuts earlier this year to help the market go in the green again.

The Commerce Ministry is now allowing exports of used vehicles from ten Chinese cities and provinces, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, with the promise of more support to the local auto industry.

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In a statement, the Chinese authorities said that they will start identifying companies that can handle such exports and called for the development of tests to ensure the quality and safety of the used car exports.

Officials see the potential for these exports to be “huge”, adding that in the most developed countries exports account for around 10 percent of the overall used car sales. China’s second-hand market is still way smaller than that of the new cars.

During 2018, 13.82 million used cars were sold in China, less than half of the 28.08 million new cars sold during the same period.

Used car exports “should be positive for the entire automobile market in the medium to long term”, said Alan Kang, Shanghai-based analyst at LMC Automotive. “If used cars sales are accelerated it will help smoothen sales of new cars”.