That dollar amount for total international car exports reflects a -4.9% decrease since 2017 but a 10.3% gain compared to the $643.9 billion spent on globally exported cars in 2020.
Cars represent the world’s number 3 exported product by sales in US dollars, trailing exports of electronic integrated circuits and crude oil in 2021.
World’s Biggest Exporters of Cars by Value
The 5 leading exporters of cars during 2021 were Germany, Japan, United States of America, South Korea and Mexico. By value, that quintet of most lucrative automotive exporters generated over half (51.2%) of globally exported cars for 2021.
Applying a continental lens, European countries sold the highest dollar value worth of cars exported during 2021 with shipments totaling $387.5 billion or 54.5% of international car sales. In second place were suppliers in Asia at 26% followed by North American automobile exporters at 17.4%.
Tinier percentages came from shippers in Africa (1.4%), Latin America (0.6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.04%) 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 2021.
- Germany: US$139.1 billion (19.6% of total exported cars)
- Japan: $85.6 billion (12%)
- United States: $54.7 billion (7.7%)
- South Korea: $44.3 billion (6.2%)
- Mexico: $39.9 billion (5.6%)
- Spain: $33.9 billion (4.8%)
- Belgium: $31.8 billion (4.5%)
- United Kingdom: $30.2 billion (4.2%)
- Canada: $29.2 billion (4.1%)
- Slovakia: $26.8 billion (3.8%)
- Czech Republic: $23.4 billion (3.3%)
- China: $22.4 billion (3.2%)
- France: $20.6 billion (2.9%)
- Italy: $16.2 billion (2.3%)
- Sweden: $12.6 billion (1.8%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 86% of global cars exports in 2021.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing cars exporters since 2020 were: mainland China (up 125.3%), South Korea (up 24.4%), United States of America (up 19%) and the United Kingdom (up 13.7%).
Three countries posted declines in their exported cars sales namely Canada (down -9%), Belgium (down -4.3%) and Mexico (down -0.8%).
Countries Generating Biggest Surpluses from Global Trade of Cars
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports involving international car sales for 2021. 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.
- Japan: US$74 billion (net export surplus up 4.6% since 2020)
- Germany: $72.4 billion (up 28.2%)
- Mexico: $32.4 billion (down -4.9%)
- South Korea: $31.4 billion (up 33.1%)
- Slovakia: $24.3 billion (up 10%)
- Czech Republic: $18.6 billion (up 10.3%)
- Spain: $18.6 billion (up 5.3%)
- Thailand: $9.4 billion (up 31.7%)
- Hungary: $8.6 billion (up 6.6%)
- India: $5.2 billion (up 16.3%)
- Turkey: $2.8 billion (up 66.5%)
- Indonesia: $2.6 billion (up 26.7%)
- Sweden: $2.51 billion (down -14.6%)
- Romania: $2.47 billion (down -19.2%)
- South Africa: $2.2 billion (down -13.2%)
Japan earns the highest surplus in the international trade of cars. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Japan’s strong competitive advantage 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 2021. 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$93.5 billion (net export deficit down -6.3% since 2020)
- China: -$26.4 billion (down -24.5%)
- France: -$19.7 billion (up 8.9%)
- Australia: -$17.3 billion (up 37%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$11.9 billion (up 12.4%)
- Switzerland: -$9.6 billion (up 1.2%)
- Italy: -$8.82 billion (up 7.8%)
- Norway: -$8.35 billion (up 48.4%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$7.4 billion (up 71.7%)
- Russia: -$6.6 billion (up 48.7%)
- Netherlands: -$6.4 billion (up 34.2%)
- Poland: -$6.2 billion (up 52.6%)
- United Kingdom: -$5.6 billion (down -31.6%)
- Taiwan: -$5.3 billion (down -3.2%)
- Israel: -$5.1 billion (up 22.5%)
The United States of America and mainland China incurred the highest deficits in the international trade of cars. In turn, these negative cashflows confirm both countries’ competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signal opportunities for improvement.
Major Car Exporting Companies
According to Forbes Global 2000 rankings, the following car and truck producing companies are among the top 100 largest companies in the world.
- Toyota Motor (Japan)
- Volkswagen Group (Germany)
- Daimler (Germany)
- Ford Motor (United States)
- BMW Group (Germany)
- General Motors (United States)
- Honda Motor (Japan)
- Hyundai Motor (South Korea)
- Nissan Motor (Japan)
- SAIC Motor (China)
The above corporations are presented in the same order as they appear in the Forbes listing.
Searchable List of Car Exporting Countries in 2021
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. The right-most column shows the percentage change in the value of cars exported from each country in 2021 compared to 2020.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Cars (US$) | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $139,131,672,000 | +13.2% |
| 2. | Japan | $85,589,575,000 | +5.8% |
| 3. | United States | $54,681,915,000 | +19% |
| 4. | South Korea | $44,318,347,000 | +24.4% |
| 5. | Mexico | $39,909,676,000 | -0.8% |
| 6. | Spain | $33,943,702,000 | +7.7% |
| 7. | Belgium | $31,837,266,000 | -4.3% |
| 8. | United Kingdom | $30,186,499,000 | +13.7% |
| 9. | Canada | $29,152,548,000 | -9% |
| 10. | Slovakia | $26,802,788,000 | +10.2% |
| 11. | Czech Republic | $23,445,617,000 | +13.3% |
| 12. | China | $22,395,003,000 | +125.3% |
| 13. | France | $20,570,403,000 | +11.3% |
| 14. | Italy | $16,223,439,000 | +9.8% |
| 15. | Sweden | $12,553,123,000 | +10.7% |
| 16. | Hungary | $12,011,737,000 | +6.2% |
| 17. | Thailand | $10,648,715,000 | +29.9% |
| 18. | Turkey | $9,573,494,000 | -0.7% |
| 19. | Austria | $7,113,626,000 | +10.8% |
| 20. | Romania | $5,596,076,000 | +4% |
| 21. | India | $5,483,035,000 | +18.7% |
| 22. | South Africa | $5,348,097,000 | +16.2% |
| 23. | Netherlands | $5,332,910,000 | -8.6% |
| 24. | Morocco | $4,211,995,000 | +41.6% |
| 25. | Portugal | $4,076,878,000 | +13.8% |
| 26. | Poland | $4,040,365,000 | -15.1% |
| 27. | Indonesia | $3,358,530,000 | +24.9% |
| 28. | Slovenia | $3,354,053,000 | +4.5% |
| 29. | Finland | $3,339,342,000 | +22.2% |
| 30. | Brazil | $3,277,512,000 | +20.8% |
| 31. | Denmark | $1,704,071,000 | +35.5% |
| 32. | Russia | $1,396,313,000 | +41.5% |
| 33. | Argentina | $1,046,864,000 | +188.8% |
| 34. | Taiwan | $943,087,000 | +52.1% |
| 35. | Switzerland | $802,092,000 | +26.9% |
| 36. | Luxembourg | $744,321,000 | +11.8% |
| 37. | Lithuania | $668,369,000 | +7.7% |
| 38. | Estonia | $613,240,000 | +29.9% |
| 39. | Hong Kong | $550,849,000 | +42.2% |
| 40. | Belarus | $436,566,000 | +81% |
| 41. | Serbia | $426,516,000 | -2.7% |
| 42. | Malaysia | $362,629,000 | +12.1% |
| 43. | United Arab Emirates | $324,508,000 | -94.6% |
| 44. | Singapore | $321,826,000 | -19.7% |
| 45. | Latvia | $292,777,000 | +13.6% |
| 46. | Uzbekistan | $281,834,000 | +65.1% |
| 47. | Bulgaria | $257,310,000 | -8.5% |
| 48. | Croatia | $247,950,000 | -18.5% |
| 49. | Vietnam | $232,968,000 | +106.3% |
| 50. | Australia | $223,824,000 | +17.2% |
| 51. | Kazakhstan | $189,868,000 | +45.2% |
| 52. | Colombia | $143,665,000 | -21.6% |
| 53. | Congo | $110,791,000 | +16867% |
| 54. | Norway | $81,538,000 | +51.6% |
| 55. | Greece | $61,503,000 | -24.1% |
| 56. | Moldova | $43,407,000 | +311.9% |
| 57. | Ireland | $32,837,000 | +162.6% |
| 58. | Gibraltar | $31,998,000 | -30.4% |
| 59. | Nauru | $23,385,000 | +1131% |
| 60. | Ukraine | $19,292,000 | +139.4% |
| 61. | Cyprus | $18,202,000 | +31.3% |
| 62. | Chile | $15,527,000 | -23.7% |
| 63. | Brunei Darussalam | $13,515,000 | +5439% |
| 64. | Guatemala | $12,941,000 | +54.8% |
| 65. | Sierra Leone | $11,385,000 | +239.1% |
| 66. | Israel | $10,486,000 | -23.9% |
| 67. | Andorra | $9,453,000 | +13.1% |
| 68. | Kuwait | $8,812,000 | -98.3% |
| 69. | New Zealand | $8,437,000 | +255.2% |
| 70. | Kyrgyzstan | $8,410,000 | +975.4% |
| 71. | Armenia | $8,286,000 | +32% |
| 72. | Tunisia | $7,911,000 | -65.2% |
| 73. | North Korea | $7,604,000 | -6% |
| 74. | Panama | $7,376,000 | -26% |
| 75. | Kenya | $7,266,000 | +114.9% |
| 76. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $6,809,000 | +6.3% |
| 77. | North Macedonia | $5,560,000 | +223.3% |
| 78. | Eswatini | $5,238,000 | +1034% |
| 79. | Iceland | $5,052,000 | +117% |
| 80. | Philippines | $4,856,000 | +200.5% |
| 81. | Bahrain | $4,771,000 | -98.5% |
| 82. | Tanzania | $4,761,000 | -44.9% |
| 83. | Qatar | $4,450,000 | -97.8% |
| 84. | Oman | $4,382,000 | +57.4% |
| 85. | Macao | $4,118,000 | +191.4% |
| 86. | Angola | $3,988,000 | +167.1% |
| 87. | Lebanon | $3,833,000 | -96.4% |
| 88. | Malta | $3,503,000 | +371.5% |
| 89. | Tajikistan | $3,478,000 | +81% |
| 90. | Egypt | $3,159,000 | +4.6% |
| 91. | Azerbaijan | $3,100,000 | +367.6% |
| 92. | Peru | $3,048,000 | -16.1% |
| 93. | Togo | $3,018,000 | +71.1% |
| 94. | Montenegro | $3,009,000 | -51.2% |
| 95. | Iran | $2,992,000 | +18.1% |
| 96. | Ethiopia | $2,531,000 | +23.8% |
| 97. | Albania | $2,058,000 | +152.8% |
| 98. | Senegal | $2,048,000 | -52.9% |
| 99. | Dominican Republic | $1,911,000 | +17.2% |
| 100. | Fiji | $1,770,000 | -3.3% |
Expanding the scope to the 100 biggest car exporters, the fastest-growing suppliers are little-known competitors in the world of automotive products. These include Congo (up 16,867% from 2020), Brunei Darussalam (up 5,439%), Nauru (up 1,131%), Kyrgyzstan (up 975.4%), Malta (up 371.5%), Azerbaijan (up 367.6%), Moldova (up 311.9%) and New Zealand (up 255.2%).
Average Unit Prices for Exported Cars from Selected Countries
Many countries report their respective average unit prices per exported car by weight, typically total tons.
Below, you will find each entry’s average dollar value for each car exported for a given year. The scope for the list is restricted to the 10 countries that publish average dollar amounts per exported car and rank within the top 10 countries that generate the top overall car sales for 2021.
- Japan: US$19,557 per exported car (up 6.6% from 2020)
- United States: $22,624 per exported car (up 7.4%)
- Canada: $23,256 per exported car (up 5.7%)
- Thailand: $12,990 per exported car (up 257.1%)
- India: $5,220 per exported car (down -9.8%)
- South Africa: $26,664 per exported car (up 2.1%)
- Finland: $204,380 per exported car (up 1,150%)
- Hong Kong: $61,321 per exported car (up 38.4%)
- Malaysia: $26,901 per exported car (up 27.8%)
- Uzbekistan: $9,706 per exported car (up 60.2%)
The costliest exported cars on average come from Finland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Africa and Canada.
Based on the above data, the least expensive cars were shipped from India, Uzbekistan and Thailand.
The average price for cars exported from the United States falls below the average $23,138 per car for the 10 listed countries.
Based on data for Japanese exports, the average unit price per car shipped from Japan is much less costly than the global average $23,138 per unit.
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 May 24, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 24, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 24, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 24, 2022
Wikipedia, Car. Accessed on May 24, 2022
