Chinese automakers race for factories globally! Top 10 players ramp up their overseas expansion offensive.

Author | Guo Yue

Editor | Zhi Hao

Production of Chinese cars begins in multiple regions overseas, marking a new milestone for Chinese automakers' global expansion.

In the last three days, Chinese automakers have made new progress in their global expansion: Xpeng Motors just announced that its third local production base globally has officially started production. The first batch of G6s from the EPMB factory located in Malacca, Malaysia, has officially rolled off the assembly line, and production ramp-up has begun.

Xpeng's third local production base globally officially starts production

On June 23, Leapmotor International, a joint venture between Leapmotor Motors and Stellantis, completed the construction of a battery assembly workshop in Malen City, Spain. The planned annual capacity for battery modules is about 65,000 sets, with a maximum expansion potential to 100,000 sets.

On June 22, Chery inaugurated a new production line at the Ebro factory operated through a joint venture with the Spanish Ebro Automotive Group in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone of Spain, further enhancing production capacity.

Almost at the same time, Canadian Federal Minister of Industry Melanie Joly revealed that BYD, Chery, and Geely, the top three Chinese automakers, are actively exploring the possibility of establishing a joint venture passenger vehicle factory in Canada.

From Southeast Asia and Europe to North America, from complete vehicle manufacturing to core three-electric system support, multiple major announcements landed densely within just three days, making the offensive of Chinese automakers going global even stronger.

This is not accidental. According to incomplete statistics from Che Dongxi, 10 mainstream automakers including Dongfeng, BYD, Changan, SAIC, Chery, Xpeng, Great Wall, etc., all have new moves in overseas markets — either building factories locally, establishing joint venture companies, or acquiring overseas automaker production lines, deepening the overseas layout.

Local production is no longer an optional strategy for Chinese automakers going global, but a necessary choice for Chinese car brands to break tariff barriers and deeply cultivate regional markets. A global upheaval from "product output" to "industrial rooting" is fully unfolding.

I. Chinese automakers "buy up" global factories, deepening local layout

Since the beginning of 2026 until now, news of domestic top automakers landing overseas factories has almost never stopped, and the local production layout of Chinese automakers is unfolding at an unprecedented speed.

Among these, Europe has become the core battleground for domestic automakers' recent overseas factory layout, with Chery Group, SAIC Group, and Leapmotor all welcoming new progress in their local layout in Europe this month.

Recent progress in overseas layout by Chinese automakers in the last three months

Multiple foreign media reports stated that Nissan Motors has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Chery. According to the agreement, Nissan's passenger vehicle base in Sunderland, UK, will begin using its Line 1 to contractually produce passenger vehicles for Chery starting from April 2027. Existing models such as Qashqai, Juke, and Leaf will be consolidated into Line 2 for centralized production, while idle production lines will handle Chery's localized manufacturing demands.

Nissan UK Sunderland Factory

On local time June 2, the Galician Regional Government of Spain announced that SAIC Group plans to build its first electric vehicle factory in the EU at the Port of Ferrol, with an initial investment of about 200 million euros (equivalent to about 1.568 billion RMB).

SAIC Group plans to build the EU's first electric vehicle factory

The factory will focus on the production of new energy models. Construction may start next year, operations begin in 2028, and the factory's annual capacity is expected to reach 120,000 units.

In May, the European local layout of Chinese automakers was equally dense.

On May 20, Stellantis and Dongfeng Group announced their cooperation, intending to establish a joint venture in Europe. Stellantis holds 51% and Dongfeng holds 49%. In the announcement, Stellantis Group stated that this joint venture is expected to be responsible for the sales and distribution business of Dongfeng Group's Voyah brand models in designated markets in Europe. Both parties also have intentions to carry out local production of Dongfeng Group's new energy models at Stellantis' Renault factory in Rennes, France.

On May 8, Stellantis also announced an expansion of strategic cooperation with Leapmotor Motors. The two companies plan to carry out capacity sharing at Stellantis Group's factories located in Madrid and Zaragoza, Spain, to comply with "Made in Europe" requirements.

Thus, from contract manufacturing, self-building to joint venture capacity sharing, Chinese automakers are deeply penetrating the European manufacturing heartland through multiple paths.

In addition to the aforementioned announced cooperation, at the end of April this year, according to Reuters citing informed sources, FAW Hongqi may be negotiating with Stellantis, intending to utilize the latter's factory in Spain for local production.

Spanish media "LaTribunadeAutomoción" also reported that Geely may reach an agreement with Ford Motor to acquire the Ford Body 3 assembly line located in Almussafes, Valencia, Spain, and use it for new energy model production.

In addition to accelerating the layout in the European market, the local layout of Chinese automakers in markets such as Southeast Asia, Middle East, Americas, Africa, etc., is also accelerating, with flowers blooming in multiple points.

In the Southeast Asian market, on May 13, Xpeng Motors officially acquired 90.1% of the equity of the EV manufacturing entity EIDO under the listed company PT Sinar Eka Selaras Tbk in Indonesia.

Xpeng acquires equity of Indonesian car factory

The core asset of this acquisition is the EIDO electric vehicle production and assembly factory located in Plakarta, West Java Province, Indonesia. This factory is Xpeng Motors' first overseas production base, adopting the Completely Knocked Down (CKD) model.

In the Middle East market, on April 25, Li Auto signed agreements with two Middle Eastern dealers, Al Fahim Motors in the UAE and Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors in Saudi Arabia, declaring the entry of Li Auto L series models into the Middle East market.

Li Auto signs with Middle Eastern dealers

In the Americas market, on March 27, Changan Motors and partner CAOA Group jointly opened a new chapter in Brazil's automotive industry. The highly automated production line located in Anápolis was officially completed and put into production. Changan Motors' Brazil factory's first phase plans to launch 3 models, covering various power forms such as fuel, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid.

Changan Motors Brazil factory officially completed and put into production

In the African market, according to foreign media reports, executives of Great Wall Motor's South Africa company revealed that they are weighing two local production plans in South Africa — either sharing production facilities with other automakers, or acquiring existing factories if conditions permit, and have already started negotiations with Mercedes regarding this.

Looking at a series of cases, the actions of Chinese automakers to land overseas capacity are increasing day by day. A large number of layout projects are moving from the signing agreement stage to the production stage, and the overseas expansion of Chinese cars is advancing at an unprecedented acceleration.

II. Domestic increase faces a ceiling, going global is the inevitable choice for automakers to break the situation

Why do automakers want to accelerate local layout?

The answer points directly to the fierce competition in the domestic automotive market. Currently, the Chinese automotive market has shifted from incremental expansion to stock game.

According to data released by the CPCA, if calculated by broad passenger vehicles, the cumulative retail sales of the national passenger vehicle market reached 7.178 million units in the first five months of this year, down 19.7% year-on-year. During the same period, export sales reached 3.4 million units, soaring 67.7% year-on-year.

Comparison of year-on-year growth rate of national passenger vehicle retail sales and export sales in the first 5 months of this year

When domestic price wars continuously compress automakers' profit margins, overseas markets have become the key direction for automakers to seek incremental growth.

However, going global does not equal simple complete vehicle export. Chinese automakers' complete vehicle export is usually constrained by multiple factors such as transportation costs, tariff policies, and market access.

The biggest challenge Chinese automakers face in going global is often not about selling cars, but about placing capacity overseas.

For this reason, local production is significant for automakers' overseas layout. It is not only an effective path to avoid trade barriers and reduce comprehensive costs, but also the foundation for deeply embedding in regional markets and achieving long-term operations.

Meanwhile, the operational difficulties faced by multiple overseas automaker giants have provided opportunities for Chinese automakers' overseas layout.

In recent years, multiple overseas automakers have been significantly pressured in electrification transformation, showing declining performance one after another.

Stellantis Group's net loss in 2025 reached as high as 22.3 billion euros (equivalent to about 174.8 billion RMB), turning from a net profit of 5.5 billion euros (equivalent to about 43.1 billion RMB) in 2024, for the first time in nearly 5 years falling into annual loss; Nissan's operating profit in the 2025 fiscal year dropped 16.9% to 58 billion yen (equivalent to about 2.4 billion RMB); Mercedes-Benz Group's net profit in the 2025 fiscal year was 5.331 billion euros (equivalent to about 41.8 billion RMB), a year-on-year decrease of 48.8%, setting a new low in nearly 5 years.

Stellantis Group 2025 Performance

Behind the decline in overseas automaker performance is a series of practical problems: falling demand for fuel cars, lengthened investment return cycles for new energy vehicles, and severely insufficient capacity utilization rates for some factories and production lines.

Taking Nissan Sunderland Factory as an example, MarkLines statistical data shows that its actual operating rate in 2025 was only 45.5%, down 8.7 percentage points compared to 2023, and annual output was less than half of the designed capacity. At the same time, idle factories and production lines still need to bear rigid costs such as depreciation, labor, and maintenance, further increasing their financial burden.

Facing profit pressure, multiple overseas automakers are achieving cost reduction by closing factories and reducing capacity — which precisely provides a perfect opportunity for Chinese automakers' local layout.

Compared to the construction cycle of building a factory from scratch taking three to five years, acquiring or renting an existing factory can significantly compress the time for capacity landing. Chinese automakers can complete production layout with lower capital costs and time costs, thereby seizing the market opportunity.

The "retreat" of overseas automakers is, in a sense, becoming an accelerator for Chinese automakers' "advance".

III. Overseas sales surge, era of Chinese car grand navigation arrives

With the acceleration of automakers' local layout, the effectiveness of automakers' global layout is already reflected intuitively in overseas sales data.

Looking at the export sales performance in May, multiple Chinese automakers showed bright overseas sales performance in May 2026.

Three Chinese automotive groups broke through 100,000 units in export sales in May, with Chery Group exporting 182,000 units, up 81% year-on-year. BYD's overseas sales in May were 160,000 units, up 81% year-on-year, creating a new monthly record for overseas sales. SAIC Group exported 129,500 units in May, up 32% year-on-year.

Summary of export sales and total sales of some domestic automakers in May 2026

In addition, Geely and GAC's overseas sales doubled, exporting 85,000 units and 28,000 units in May respectively, up 184% and 140% year-on-year.

It can be seen that the monthly overseas sales of top automakers have stabilized at the hundred-thousand level or even reaching the two-hundred-thousand level, and going global is moving from "testing the waters" to "volume release" stage.

And looking at the cumulative export data performance in the first five months of this year, this growth trend is even clearer: overseas sales of six automakers — BYD, SAIC, Chery, Geely, Great Wall, and Changan — have all climbed.

Summary of export sales and export annual sales target achievement of some domestic automakers in the first five months of this year

Among them, Chery Group's cumulative export in the first five months of this year reached 753,000 units, up 70% year-on-year, a net increase of 309,000 units compared to the same period last year. Its increment ranks first among the six automakers.

During the same period, BYD followed closely with an increment of 243,000 units. Cumulative export in the first five months of this year reached 617,000 units, up 65% year-on-year.

The overseas sales target set by BYD at the beginning of this year is 1.5 million units for 2026. In the first five months of this year, 41% has been completed.

Recently, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu revealed at the annual shareholders' meeting that it is expected that overseas sales this year will exceed the original target, releasing a clear signal of acceleration in going global.

Geely's cumulative overseas sales reached 371,000 units in the first five months of this year, up 158% year-on-year. With the fastest growth rate among these 6 automakers, Geely's export sales target this year is 640,000 units, with 58% achieved in the first five months of this year.

SAIC, Changan, and Great Wall's export sales reached 589,000 units, 299,000 units, and 231,000 units respectively in the first five months of this year, up 46%, 21%, and 47% year-on-year. Growth is stable, with export annual sales targets achieved at 39%, 40%, and 39% respectively.

Whether single-month export sales or cumulative export sales, Chinese automakers' overseas sales show the characteristics of continuous, stable, and high growth.

It can be foreseen that in the second half of the year, the investment of major Chinese automakers in building factories overseas, channel expansion, and supply chain localization will continue to be increased, and the pace of going global will be further accelerated. Chinese cars are moving comprehensively from "product output" to "industrial rooting", and the competition of the era of grand navigation has just begun.

Conclusion: Chinese automakers accelerate overseas landing

From building factories overseas, acquiring factories to leasing production lines, Chinese automakers' local layout is blooming in multiple points and accelerating landing.

Those who can integrate overseas capacity in the fastest speed, integrate into regional supply chains, and seize local market shares will be able to occupy the initiative in the next stage of global competition.

This is not only a challenge, but also a necessary path for Chinese automobiles to go from large to strong.

From "complete vehicle export" to "technology output + local production", from "going out" to "going in", the curtain of the era of Chinese car grand navigation has been lifted, and the real journey has just begun.