In 2022, Chinese exports of automobiles to the international market rose above 2.5 million units, making China the third largest exporter of automobiles in the world. according to a Bloomberg report this week that cited data from the China Passenger Car Association.

Although China was beaten by Japan and Germany, it beat out the US and South Korea, indicating the established leaders of the automobile sector now face a bold new challenger.

In the Middle East and Latin America Chinese brands are among the best selling vehicles. Meanwhile in Europe most of the Chinese-made automobiles sold were made up of electric vehicles from Tesla as well as Chinese-owned ex-European brands (and brands from Europe such as Dacia Spring and the BMW iX3).

In addition, there is a broad variety of homegrown brands such as BYD and Nio, which have become popular as well. BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, has been growing market share for its electric vehicles in developed countries such as Australia.

China is now the third largest vehicle-exporter after Japan, according to separate data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Year on year, the mainland exports of Chinese automobiles surged enormously, by 54.4%, with 3.11 million units exported in 2022.

Automakers in Japan exported 3.2 million automobiles to international markets over the first eleven months of 2022. That was almost unchanged since one year prior, according to data from auto industry data provider MarkLines.

Germany moved 2.1 million units in 2022, for an increase of 10% over the prior year, according to data from the German Association of the Automotive industry (VDA).