That dollar amount paid for total international car exports reflects a flatlining 0.2% increase compared to $774.7 billion in 2018.
Year over year, worldwide spending on exported cars rose 7.5% from $722.6 billion during 2021.
In 2022, cars represented the world’s number 4 exported product as measured by sales in US dollars. International purchases for exported cars trailed crude oil, electronic integrated circuits and refined petroleum oils.
Cars accounted for 3.2% of overall international sales for all exported products.
World’s Biggest Exporters of Cars by Value
The 5 leading exporters of cars during 2022 were Germany, Japan, United States of America, South Korea and Mexico. By value, that quintet of best automotive exporters generated over half (51.4%) pf cars exported in 2022.
Applying a continental lens, European countries sold the highest dollar value worth of cars exported during 2022 with shipments totaling $406.7 billion or 52.2% of international car sales. In second place were suppliers in Asia at 28.3% followed by North American automobile exporters at 17.2%.
Tinier percentages came from shippers in Africa (1.4%), Latin America (0.8%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.1%) led by Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for cars is 8703.
Car Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of cars in 2022.
- Germany: US$155.1 billion (20% of total exported cars)
- Japan: $87.2 billion (11.2%)
- United States: $57.9 billion (7.5%)
- South Korea: $51.7 billion (6.7%)
- Mexico: $46.9 billion (6%)
- China: $44.7 billion (5.8%)
- Belgium: $33.9 billion (4.4%)
- Spain: $32.9 billion (4.2%)
- United Kingdom: $29.5 billion (3.8%)
- Canada: $29.5 billion (3.8%)
- Slovakia: $26.3 billion (3.4%)
- Czech Republic: $25.4 billion (3.3%)
- France: $20.9 billion (2.7%)
- Italy: $16 billion (2.1%)
- Hungary: $12.2 billion (1.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 86.3% of globally exported cars bought in 2022.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing sellers of exported cars were mainland China (up 83.2% from 2021), Mexico (up 17.6%), South Korea (up 16.6%) then world leader Germany (up 11%).
Posting the severest year-over-year declines in their exported car sales were Spain (down -3.1%), Italy (down -2.4%) and the United Kingdom (also down -2.4%).
Countries Generating Biggest Surpluses from Global Trade of Cars
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports involving international car sales for 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s car exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Germany: US$87.4 billion (net export surplus up 20.8% since 2021)
- Japan: $76.5 billion (up 3.5%)
- South Korea: $37.6 billion (up 19.9%)
- Mexico: $35.9 billion (up 11%)
- Slovakia: $23.4 billion (down -3.3%)
- Czech Republic: $20.3 billion (up 9.6%)
- Spain: $15.5 billion (down -16.7%)
- Thailand: $9.3 billion (down -1.3%)
- Hungary: $8.8 billion (up 2.6%)
- India: $4.6 billion (down -11.5%)
- Indonesia: $4.3 billion (up 63.4%)
- Morocco: $3.1 billion (up 57.2%)
- Romania: $2.72 billion (up 10.2%)
- Sweden: $2.30 billion (down -6.3%)
- Türkiye: $1.4 billion (down -51.8%)
Germany and Japan earn the highest surplus in the international trade of cars. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms both countries’ strong competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Countries Incurring Worst Deficits from Global Trade of Cars
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for cars during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s car import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$110.5 billion (net export deficit up 18.7% since 2021)
- Australia: -$19 billion (up 9.7%)
- France: -$16.6 billion (down -16.6%)
- United Kingdom: -$14.9 billion (up 169.6%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$11.9 billion (down -0.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$11.3 billion (up 90.5%)
- Switzerland: -$10.4 billion (up 8.5%)
- Italy: -$9.6 billion (up 0.8%)
- Norway: -$8.6 billion (up 3.6%)
- China: -$7.6 billion (down -73.3%)
- Israel: -$6.6 billion (up 28.8%)
- Russia: -$6 billion (down -9.7%)
- Netherlands: -$5.9 billion (down -9.5%)
- Poland: -$5.7 billion (down -7.9%)
- Taiwan: -$5.5 billion (up 5.2%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of cars. In turn, its negative cashflow confirms America’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for improvement.
Major Car Exporting Companies
According to Forbes Global 2000 rankings, the following car and truck producing companies are among the top 100 largest companies in the world.
- Toyota Motor (Japan)
- Volkswagen Group (Germany)
- Daimler (Germany)
- Ford Motor (United States)
- BMW Group (Germany)
- General Motors (United States)
- Honda Motor (Japan)
- Hyundai Motor (South Korea)
- Nissan Motor (Japan)
- SAIC Motor (China)
The above corporations are presented in the same order as they appear in the Forbes listing.
Searchable List of Car Exporting Countries in 2022
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below.
The right-most column shows the percentage change in the value of cars exported from each country in 2022 compared to 2021.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Cars (US$) | 2021-2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $155,138,611,000 | +11% |
| 2. | Japan | $87,198,901,000 | +1.9% |
| 3. | United States | $57,850,861,000 | +5.3% |
| 4. | South Korea | $51,680,334,000 | +16.6% |
| 5. | Mexico | $46,924,135,000 | +17.6% |
| 6. | China | $44,687,899,000 | +83.2% |
| 7. | Belgium | $33,891,693,000 | +6.5% |
| 8. | Spain | $32,901,492,000 | -3.1% |
| 9. | United Kingdom | $29,479,694,000 | -2.4% |
| 10. | Canada | $29,465,429,000 | +1.1% |
| 11. | Slovakia | $26,339,622,000 | -1.1% |
| 12. | Czech Republic | $25,361,467,000 | +8.2% |
| 13. | France | $20,928,591,000 | +1.2% |
| 14. | Italy | $15,981,819,000 | -2.4% |
| 15. | Hungary | $12,163,133,000 | +1.3% |
| 16. | Sweden | $12,037,695,000 | -4.2% |
| 17. | Thailand | $11,069,986,000 | +4% |
| 18. | Türkiye | $9,350,959,000 | -2.3% |
| 19. | Austria | $7,929,778,000 | +11.7% |
| 20. | Romania | $6,165,082,000 | +10.2% |
| 21. | Netherlands | $6,161,857,000 | +15.5% |
| 22. | South Africa | $5,799,432,000 | +8.4% |
| 23. | Poland | $5,747,849,000 | +42.3% |
| 24. | Indonesia | $5,545,393,000 | +65.1% |
| 25. | Morocco | $5,247,004,000 | +24.6% |
| 26. | India | $5,031,972,000 | -8.2% |
| 27. | Brazil | $4,635,532,000 | +41.4% |
| 28. | Portugal | $4,229,998,000 | +3.5% |
| 29. | Slovenia | $2,511,826,000 | -24.8% |
| 30. | Finland | $2,409,868,000 | -27.9% |
| 31. | Denmark | $1,816,200,000 | +6.6% |
| 32. | Argentina | $1,278,366,000 | +22.1% |
| 33. | Lithuania | $1,132,622,000 | +68.6% |
| 34. | Taiwan | $984,406,000 | +4.4% |
| 35. | Luxembourg | $692,851,000 | -6.9% |
| 36. | Switzerland | $681,577,000 | -15% |
| 37. | Estonia | $630,320,000 | +2.7% |
| 38. | Malaysia | $510,395,000 | +40.7% |
| 39. | Tokelau | $492,833,000 | +24641550% |
| 40. | Hong Kong | $490,226,000 | -11% |
| 41. | Singapore | $307,190,000 | -4.5% |
| 42. | Latvia | $304,168,000 | +1.2% |
| 43. | Vietnam | $299,657,000 | +17% |
| 44. | Kazakhstan | $258,846,000 | +31.3% |
| 45. | United Arab Emirates | $252,886,000 | -96.3% |
| 46. | Armenia | $251,378,000 | +2925% |
| 47. | Russia | $243,666,000 | -82.5% |
| 48. | Australia | $228,873,000 | +2.3% |
| 49. | Serbia | $191,978,000 | -55% |
| 50. | Bulgaria | $189,824,000 | -24.4% |
| 51. | Norway | $167,214,000 | +105.1% |
| 52. | Croatia | $162,009,000 | -30.7% |
| 53. | Equatorial Guinea | $148,305,000 | +29982% |
| 54. | Chile | $86,374,000 | -7.8% |
| 55. | Ecuador | $80,107,000 | +20493% |
| 56. | Moldova | $71,662,000 | +65.1% |
| 57. | Greece | $50,062,000 | -18.6% |
| 58. | Jordan | $48,591,000 | -6.4% |
| 59. | Iran | $45,182,000 | +340.7% |
| 60. | Ukraine | $43,667,000 | +112.2% |
| 61. | Ireland | $41,139,000 | +22.8% |
| 62. | Azerbaijan | $37,919,000 | +1123% |
| 63. | Andorra | $25,312,000 | -10.5% |
| 64. | Colombia | $24,782,000 | -82.8% |
| 65. | Philippines | $22,903,000 | +371.6% |
| 66. | Kyrgyzstan | $19,670,000 | +133.9% |
| 67. | Gibraltar | $18,053,000 | -43.7% |
| 68. | Israel | $16,330,000 | +46.4% |
| 69. | Macao | $13,175,000 | +219.9% |
| 70. | Cyprus | $12,532,000 | -31.2% |
| 71. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $11,835,000 | +73.8% |
| 72. | Oman | $11,722,000 | -98.8% |
| 73. | Guatemala | $11,292,000 | -12.7% |
| 74. | Kenya | $10,463,000 | +22.9% |
| 75. | Saudi Arabia | $10,033,000 | 0% |
| 76. | Suriname | $8,358,000 | +2135% |
| 77. | Kuwait | $7,970,000 | -98.9% |
| 78. | Uzbekistan | $7,564,000 | -97.3% |
| 79. | Montenegro | $7,149,000 | +137.6% |
| 80. | Qatar | $6,712,000 | -97.9% |
| 81. | New Zealand | $6,401,000 | -24.1% |
| 82. | Panama | $6,296,000 | -35.9% |
| 83. | Pitcairn | $5,560,000 | 0% |
| 84. | North Korea | $5,446,000 | -49.4% |
| 85. | Senegal | $5,387,000 | +163% |
| 86. | Sierra Leone | $4,433,000 | -64.4% |
| 87. | Mongolia | $3,939,000 | +7475% |
| 88. | Belarus | $3,932,000 | -99.1% |
| 89. | Sri Lanka | $3,827,000 | +250.1% |
| 90. | Honduras | $3,338,000 | +276.3% |
| 91. | Cambodia | $3,301,000 | +2901% |
| 92. | Faroe Islands | $3,290,000 | +437.6% |
| 93. | Ethiopia | $3,108,000 | +22.8% |
| 94. | Burkina Faso | $2,980,000 | +100.9% |
| 95. | Albania | $2,901,000 | +43.3% |
| 96. | Peru | $2,412,000 | -20.9% |
| 97. | Malta | $2,363,000 | -28.4% |
| 98. | Iceland | $2,127,000 | -57.9% |
| 99. | Dominican Republic | $2,017,000 | +5.5% |
| 100. | Ghana | $1,815,000 | +73.9% |
Expanding the scope to the 100 biggest car exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of cars were Tokelau (up 24,641,550% from 2021), Equatorial Guinea (up 29,982%), Ecuador (up 20,493%), Mongolia (up 7,475%), Armenia (2,925%), Cambodia (up 2,901%), Suriname (up 2,135%) then Azerbaijan (up 1,123%).
Posting the severest declines in their exported cars sales were Belarus (down -99.1% from 2021), Kuwait (down -98.9%), Oman (down -98.8%), Qatar (down -97.9%), Uzbekistan (down -97.3%) and the United Arab Emirates (down -96.3%).
Average Unit Prices for Exported Cars from Selected Countries
Below, you will find average dollar value for each car exported from selected countries.
Excluded are countries that report their respective average unit prices per exported car by weight, typically total tons.
- Finland: US$126,959 per exported car (up 828.5% from 2021)
- Hong Kong: $61,110 per exported car (up 122.9%)
- Israel: $29,196 per exported car (up 52%)
- South Africa: $25,318 per exported car (up 3.6%)
- United States of America: $24,445 per exported car (up 16.9%)
- Canada: $24,280 per exported car (up 7.9%)
- Malaysia: $20,147 per exported car (down -14.3%)
- Japan: $19,967 per exported car (up 10.2%)
- Thailand: $16,445 per exported car (up 410.4%)
- Chile: $9,032 per exported car (down -4.6%)
The average price for cars exported from the United States, Canada or Japan falls below the average $25,549 per car exported from the 10 listed countries.
See also Electric Cars Exports by Country, US Exported & Imported Cars by State and Car Imports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 13, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 13, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 13, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 13, 2023
Wikipedia, Car. Accessed on July 13, 2023
