Foreigners in Central Asia may not be able to buy cheap Chinese cars in the future.

Before the National Day, four ministries, including the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs, "quietly" issued a new policy.

"As of January 1, 2026, export license management will be officially implemented for pure - electric passenger vehicles."

This statement sounds quite official and didn't cause much of a stir in the public opinion field, but actually, it indicates a significant matter.

Let's translate it: In the future, for new pure - electric vehicles to be exported legally, one can't simply find a trading company. Instead, authorization from the car manufacturer is required.

It is estimated that the large - scale exports of "zero - kilometer used cars" will gradually be tightened.

Brother Neck checked the specific customs codes. This time, a new category of pure - electric vehicles with identification codes (Code: 87038010.90) has been added, which is different from the original second - hand pure - electric vehicles (Code: 87038010.10).

Combined with the previous closed - door meeting convened by the Ministry of Commerce with industry institutions and car manufacturers, as well as the vague rumor that "new cars are prohibited from being resold as second - hand within 3 - 6 months after registration", there is no doubt that relevant departments are gradually standardizing the export of electric vehicles and curbing chaos.

With Chinese car manufacturers building their own "ships" to go global in recent years, it is believed that the way of exporting through converting new cars into second - hand cars will become less and less common.

I think this is a great thing.

Let's first take a look at what happened in the past two years regarding car exports.

The number of exported cars soared from 2 million in 2021 to over 5 million in 2024, knocking Japan off the top spot and making China the world's number one exporter. New energy vehicles contributed one - fifth of the total, making significant contributions.

However, under the frenzy of the "Age of Exploration", the business of exporting zero - kilometer used cars has grown wildly.

There are generally two paths for car exports. One is the normal export of complete vehicles. The other is "parallel import", which is essentially overseas purchasing.

Since parallel importers purchase cars on their own, they will buy some models that are relatively cheap or scarce overseas and resell them in China. Well - known models like the Toyota Land Cruiser and the Mercedes - Benz G - Class are the top choices for parallel - imported cars.

With the rise of Chinese cars, some domestic car dealers have targeted the cost - effectiveness of Chinese new energy vehicles and started to export them.

Taking Central Asia, a common destination, as an example, cars first arrive at the Khorgos Port in Xinjiang. They are processed as second - hand cars to avoid new - car export certification and then transported to Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan. Since Central Asian countries form the Eurasian Economic Union, these cars can be sold to Russia and even further to Eastern Europe duty - free.

At first, due to the overwhelming product strength of Chinese new energy vehicles, there was no worry about sales.

William Ng, the marketing director of Chongqing Huanyu Automobile, said that from 2022 - 2023, they could buy an electric car in China for 40,000 RMB and make a profit of 10,000 RMB by selling it in the Middle East.

The situation was even more extreme for popular models. The Li L9, which cost over 400,000 RMB in China, could be sold for 11 million rubles (equivalent to over 900,000 RMB) in Russia.

Now, the 2025 Li L9 with modifications still costs 8 - 9 million rubles.

To be honest, this was not a bad thing at first. It was even a win - win or triple - win situation.

As we all know, after the Russia - Ukraine conflict, Chinese cars quickly occupied the market vacated by foreign car manufacturers, almost dominating the Russian market. In 2023, Chinese cars accounted for 55% of the sales in Russia, and this figure exceeded 60% in 2024.

Even without considering the special situation in Russia, the cost - effectiveness of Chinese cars still makes Central Asian friends exclaim about their low prices. In Almaty, Kazakhstan, a base - model Camry costs 20 million tenge, while the Zeekr 001 costs less than that...

For Chinese car manufacturers, the large demand from international car dealers for models can also help 4S stores reduce inventory.

XC, who is engaged in the used - car export business in Chengdu, told Brother Neck that as the price war in the domestic market intensifies, they don't even need to source cars from 4S stores. They can directly approach car manufacturers.

However, when more and more people want to make a fortune, while domestic car manufacturers are engaged in a price war, car dealers are also competing fiercely in foreign markets.

If you make a profit of 10,000 RMB per car, then I'll be satisfied with 5,000 RMB and try to squeeze you out first.

Car sales rely heavily on liquidity. The continuous price cuts have gradually formed a vicious cycle, resulting in a profit of only 1,000 or 500 RMB per car in the end.

Under the intense competition among domestic peers, foreigners are not stupid. They have gradually figured out the costs of car prices, customs clearance, and logistics. As a result, car dealers are even forced to give up part of the domestic tax - refund money (China can refund 13% VAT on exported goods).

Moreover, this almost bottom - less price competition not only harms car dealers but also has no benefits for car manufacturers and the Chinese automotive industry.

The most obvious problem is that it disrupts the car price system.

In Kazakhstan, BYD officially sells the Song PLUS DM - i for 17.78 million tenge (equivalent to 235,000 RMB), while the local zero - kilometer used cars only cost a little over 10 million tenge (equivalent to 140,000 RMB). With such a price difference, it's obvious which one people will choose.

The high official prices are not because car manufacturers think foreigners are rich and naive. The cost of exporting cars is actually higher than we think.

One of the reasons is that car manufacturers usually make adaptive adjustments to exported vehicles.

Take the legendary Hilux, which can still run after being burned and soaked according to Top Gear. It is popular among Middle - Eastern tycoons and Africans because of its targeted development.

In Africa, due to the low - quality gasoline, Toyota has improved the fuel injection system. Facing the daily high temperatures in the Middle East, the Hilux's air - conditioning can reduce the temperature from 50°C to 25°C within 3 minutes. For Southeast Asia, which has many rough roads and emphasizes practicality, there are special versions of the Hilux with raised suspensions and commercial truck versions with a shorter turning radius.

To localize these exported vehicles, car manufacturers need to conduct local market research and even build specialized R & D bases locally, which significantly increases the cost.

Car dealers simply sell domestic cars overseas and basically don't need to bear after - sales costs, so their costs are naturally low.

However, as the service life increases, if a large number of local adaptation problems occur, leading to a situation similar to the decline of Chinese motorcycle enterprises in Southeast Asia, it will really be a great loss.

More importantly, when Chinese cars go global, they need to respect local laws and consumer rights, which also incurs costs.

Take the maintenance of new energy vehicles, which is of great concern. In relatively mature automotive markets in Europe and the United States, third - party repair shops can subscribe to the car manufacturers' repair methods and diagnostic tools. Everyone knows the principles of car repair, and it all depends on skills without information asymmetry.

This not only enables fair competition in the automotive after - sales market but also guarantees consumers' right to choose repair shops independently.

Therefore, when entering the European and American markets, we can't tie maintenance to 4S stores like in the domestic market. The entire profit model is different from that in China.

Chinese car manufacturers disclose maintenance information on the website of the Australian Automotive Service and Repair Authority.