China moved into the No.1 position of vehicle exporter in 2025, overtaking Japan. According to initial data, vehicle exports from China last year totalled approximately 27 million units (17% higher than 2024), while Japanese exports remained around 25 million units.
Japan first became the world’s largest automobile producer in 1980, surpassing the USA in production volume. As China has been doing in recent years, it then stepped up exports and became No.1 vehicle exporter in 1986 when it shipped 6.7 million units overseas.
The UK was once a world leader in vehicle exports from the early to mid-1950s but was overtaken as the German and Japanese auto industries recovered and rapidly grew after World War II.
The US auto industry, though No.1 in vehicle production in the 1960s and 1970s, was not strong in vehicle exports as its manufacturers were too focussed on the domestic market, apart from the fact that the large size of American cars (and their engines) was not suited in most other countries.
