Beijing: As Western governments fixate on the electric-vehicle onslaught from BYD and Tesla rivals, China’s traditional automakers are waging a quieter but bigger war with gasoline cars they can no longer sell at home.
Domestic demand for internal-combustion-engine vehicles has collapsed under aggressive NEV quotas, subsidies, and local license-plate restrictions. Factories owned by FAW, SAIC, Changan, Dongfeng, and their foreign joint-venture partners now sit on mountains of unsold petrol sedans, SUVs, and pickups.
Instead of idling capacity, Beijing has unleashed a fire sale on emerging markets. In 2025 alone, China is on track to export over 4.2 million gasoline and mild-hybrid vehicles—up 65% from 2023—mostly to Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Russia. Prices routinely undercut local and European brands by 30–50%, often below cost.
Industry analysts warn the flood is locking developing nations into fossil-fuel dependency for another decade, undermining global climate targets while gutting remaining Western and Japanese assembly plants in those regions. Former joint-venture partners like Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Honda are being crushed by the very factories they helped build.
One Bangkok dealer summed it up: “A new MG or Chery petrol SUV costs less than a used Corolla. Customers don’t care about 2035 bans here—they want cheap now.”
Quietly, the gasoline car has become China’s most potent automotive export weapon.