What is the reason for the strong momentum of China's bus exports?

      Recently, under the influence of the market environment, China's bus market has shown a phenomenon of "sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing" and "uneven hot and cold".
     
      However, the bus export market has continued to grow from January 2024 to April 2025, becoming an "evergreen tree" that stands tall in the industry!
 

      According to data from the China Bus Statistics Information Network, China exported 5,736 buses in April 2025, a year-on-year increase of 26.71%, which not only far exceeded the overall growth rate of the bus industry. So, why can the bus export market have such a brilliant performance? It is mainly due to the following aspects:

      In recent years, emerging market countries (or regions) such as Asia, Africa, and South America have increased their efforts in transportation infrastructure construction and urbanization, and the demand for public transportation has continued to increase, providing more opportunities for China's bus exports.

      Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries have significantly increased their investment in infrastructure construction and urbanization, and the demand for buses has continued to increase. Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, in particular, have been the main destinations for Chinese bus exports in recent years, and the number of exports has been rising year by year.

      Customs data show that by April 2025, China's bus exports to Saudi Arabia and Vietnam accounted for 14% and 10% of the market share, respectively, winning the first and second place in bus export countries, and their market share has reached a new high in recent years.

      Another example is the African region, due to its small total railway mileage on the continent, which is concentrated in northern and southern Africa. More than half of African roads are unpaved roads, and road traffic carries 90% of passenger transportation. Therefore, Africa's road infrastructure construction has huge investment potential, which has gradually emerged in the near future.

      The road construction efforts in Egypt, South Africa and other countries have been significantly increased, and the demand for Chinese bus imports has also shown an increasing trend year by year.
Customs data show that by April 2025, China's bus exports to Egypt accounted for 9.5% of the market share, ranking third in China's bus exports.

      Another example is Latin America, which has always been one of the world's important tourist destinations, with beautiful natural scenery and unique cultural landscapes. In recent years, the latest data released by many Latin American countries show that the pace of regional tourism recovery is accelerating, and the tourist passenger transport market is developing rapidly.

      Peru, Chile and other countries have always been important markets for China's bus exports. Customs data show that China's bus exports to Peru and Chile accounted for 7.5% and nearly 5% of the market share in the first four months of 2025, respectively, ranking fourth and fifth among bus exporting countries.

      The recent increase in demand for new energy buses in the international market, especially in some countries in Asia and Europe, has provided opportunities for the growth of China's new energy bus exports.
Driven by factors such as environmental protection and low carbon, the world pays more and more attention to environmental protection and sustainable development, and some countries (or regions) have an increasing demand for new energy buses. Asia, Europe and other countries have accelerated the switch to new energy buses.

      As the world's largest new energy vehicle market, China has a mature industrial chain and rich technical accumulation, and can provide cost-effective new energy bus products to meet the needs of the international market. Therefore, China's new energy buses are increasingly favored by the international market.

      According to the latest data from the China Bus Statistics Information Network, China exported 1,417 new energy buses in April 2025, a year-on-year increase of 42.84%; in the first four months of 2025, China exported a total of 4,414 new energy buses, a cumulative year-on-year increase of 52.21%. It can be seen that the growth rate of China's new energy bus export market is relatively high.

      From the current flow of China's new energy buses in the international market, they mainly flow to some countries in Asia and Europe.

      Customs data show that in the first four months of 2025, Nepal, Israel, Vietnam, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, India in Asia, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland in Europe, etc. are the top 10 countries for China's new energy bus exports.

      In recent years, domestic bus companies have also accelerated their layout in the international market, and through joint overseas factory construction, mergers and acquisitions and cooperation with partners, they have seized global market share and gradually transformed from export-oriented to industrialized and localized operations.

      This is actually equivalent to domestic bus companies moving all their production plants and marketing companies to the "doorstep" of overseas target customers, further broadening channels and improving marketing efficiency to seize overseas markets. It is the upgrade of this export model that provides tactical support for China's bus export sales to achieve "16 consecutive increases".

      The accelerated implementation of the "Belt and Road" development strategy has provided a broader market space for China's bus exports.

      In recent years, under the guidance of the "Belt and Road" development strategy, domestic bus export mainstream companies such as King Long, Zhongtong, and Higer have continuously expanded their "circle of friends", accelerated exports to Southeast Asia, Central Asia and other regions, and continuously obtained large export orders, which directly increased bus export sales.

      According to customs data, among the nearly 28,000 Chinese bus exports in the first four months of 2025, the number of exports to the "Belt and Road" region (or along the route) accounted for more than 70% (70.3%), and this proportion has reached a record high in all years.