That dollar amount paid for overall international car exports reflects a 48.1% increase compared to $647.3 billion five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, worldwide spending on exported cars slowed to a -1.8% drop starting from $976.4 billion during 2023.
In 2024, cars represented the world’s third-most valuable exported product as measured by sales in US dollars. International purchases for exported cars trailed crude oil and electronic integrated circuits but outpaced refined petroleum oils.
Cars accounted for 4% of overall international spending on all exported products, down from 4.1% for 2023.
World’s Biggest Exporters of Cars by Value
The 5 leading exporters of cars during 2024 were Germany, Japan, mainland China, South Korea and Mexico. By value, that quintet of most lucrative automotive exporters generated over half (52.9%) of cars sold on international markets in 2024.
Applying a continental lens, European countries sold the highest dollar value worth of cars exported during 2024 with shipments totaling $473.3 billion or 49.4% of international car sales. In second place were suppliers in Asia at 32.1% followed by automobile exporters located in North America at 16.6%.
Tinier percentages came from shippers in Africa (1.3%), Latin America (0.6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.03%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
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 2024.
- Germany: US$174.5 billion (18.2% of total exported cars)
- Japan: $106.8 billion (11.1%)
- mainland China: $90.2 billion (9.4%)
- South Korea: $68.3 billion (7.1%)
- Mexico: $67.7 billion (7.1%)
- United States: $59.2 billion (6.2%)
- Belgium: $41.5 billion (4.3%)
- Spain: $38.9 billion (4.1%)
- United Kingdom: $35.9 billion (3.7%)
- Czech Republic: $34.4 billion (3.6%)
- Canada: $31.8 billion (3.3%)
- Slovakia: $31.8 billion (3.3%)
- France: $22.6 billion (2.4%)
- Italy: $16.2 billion (1.7%)
- Hungary: $15 billion (1.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 87.1% of globally exported cars sold in 2024.
Among the top exporters, cars exporters growing their sales since 2023 were: Mexico (up 18.1%), mainland China (up 16.2%), Czech Republic (up 7.5%) and South Korea (up 0.1%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported cars sales were led by: Italy (down -21.1% from 2023), Canada (down -15.9%), France (down -8.1%), United States of America (down -6.1%) and Spain (down -4.3%).
Countries Generating Biggest Surpluses from Global Trade of Cars
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports involving international car sales for 2024. 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$103.2 billion (net export surplus up 4.4% since 2023)
- Japan: $95.4 billion (down -3%)
- South Korea: $56.2 billion (up 4.6%)
- mainland China: $52 billion (up 63.9%)
- Mexico: $51 billion (up 28.7%)
- Slovakia: $27.8 billion (down -4.4%)
- Czech Republic: $27.6 billion (up 9.2%)
- Spain: $15.5 billion (down -9%)
- Hungary: $10.2 billion (down -11.7%)
- Thailand: $9.5 billion (up 28.8%)
- India: $6.3 billion (up 5.6%)
- Sweden: $4.6 billion (up 22.9%)
- Morocco: $4.2 billion (up 8.8%)
- Indonesia: $3.4 billion (down -14.4%)
- Romania: $3.3 billion (up 23.5%)
Germany and Japan earned the highest surpluses 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 2024. 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$160.3 billion (net export deficit up 8.9% since 2023)
- Australia: -$23.4 billion (down -2.5%)
- France: -$21.7 billion (up 0.7%)
- United Kingdom: -$20.9 billion (up 6.8%)
- Italy: -$20.5 billion (up 28.7%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$19.8 billion (up 26%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$18.5 billion (up 4.3%)
- Russia: -$17.2 billion (up 16.3%)
- Switzerland: -$12 billion (down -9.7%)
- Netherlands: -$11.6 billion (up 35.9%)
- Poland: -$11.6 billion (up 55.6%)
- Canada: -$8 billion (up 1006.3%)
- Taiwan: -$7.3 billion (up 4%)
- Israel: -$6.7 billion (up 9.8%)
- Norway: -$5.4 billion (down -5%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of cars. In turn, its negative cashflow confirms America’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for improvement.
Major Car Exporting Companies
According to Forbes Global 2000 rankings, the following car and truck producing companies are among the top 100 largest companies in the world.
- Toyota Motor (Japan)
- Volkswagen Group (Germany)
- Daimler (Germany)
- Ford Motor (United States)
- BMW Group (Germany)
- General Motors (United States)
- Honda Motor (Japan)
- Hyundai Motor (South Korea)
- Nissan Motor (Japan)
- SAIC Motor (China)
The above corporations are presented in the same order as they appear in the Forbes listing.
Searchable List of Car Exporting Countries in 2024
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below.
The right-most column shows the percentage change in the value of cars exported from each country in 2024 compared to 2023.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Cars (US$) | 2023-4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $174,545,249,000 | -2% |
| 2. | Japan | $106,811,734,000 | -3.7% |
| 3. | mainland China | $90,239,829,000 | +16.2% |
| 4. | South Korea | $68,326,446,000 | +0.1% |
| 5. | Mexico | $67,695,443,000 | +18.1% |
| 6. | United States | $59,195,339,000 | -6.1% |
| 7. | Belgium | $41,492,616,000 | -3.7% |
| 8. | Spain | $38,881,090,000 | -4.3% |
| 9. | United Kingdom | $35,853,925,000 | -2.9% |
| 10. | Czech Republic | $34,358,999,000 | +7.5% |
| 11. | Canada | $31,834,354,000 | -15.9% |
| 12. | Slovakia | $31,818,203,000 | -3.8% |
| 13. | France | $22,623,651,000 | -8.1% |
| 14. | Italy | $16,183,815,000 | -21.1% |
| 15. | Hungary | $14,977,466,000 | -3.9% |
| 16. | Sweden | $14,886,068,000 | -2.2% |
| 17. | Türkiye | $12,890,754,000 | +11.6% |
| 18. | Thailand | $12,166,990,000 | +3.3% |
| 19. | Austria | $8,126,014,000 | -10% |
| 20. | Romania | $8,009,414,000 | +15.8% |
| 21. | Slovenia | $7,471,614,000 | +17.9% |
| 22. | Poland | $7,235,907,000 | -5.8% |
| 23. | India | $6,984,803,000 | +3.9% |
| 24. | Morocco | $6,869,857,000 | +7.4% |
| 25. | Indonesia | $6,000,453,000 | -1.1% |
| 26. | South Africa | $5,674,296,000 | +4.9% |
| 27. | Portugal | $4,484,272,000 | +3.3% |
| 28. | Brazil | $4,289,754,000 | +2.9% |
| 29. | Netherlands | $3,415,531,000 | -48.8% |
| 30. | Denmark | $2,789,944,000 | +27.7% |
| 31. | Argentina | $1,439,481,000 | -3.6% |
| 32. | Finland | $1,177,719,000 | -10% |
| 33. | Saudi Arabia | $1,030,083,000 | +5.9% |
| 34. | Estonia | $896,395,000 | -7.7% |
| 35. | Taiwan | $885,598,000 | -3.5% |
| 36. | Luxembourg | $862,321,000 | +1.3% |
| 37. | Switzerland | $815,607,000 | +12.2% |
| 38. | Lithuania | $752,058,000 | -41% |
| 39. | Hong Kong | $660,585,000 | +49.6% |
| 40. | Latvia | $413,772,000 | +8.6% |
| 41. | Vietnam | $400,375,000 | +51.9% |
| 42. | Singapore | $395,686,000 | +0.9% |
| 43. | Malaysia | $342,355,000 | -18.7% |
| 44. | Bulgaria | $333,705,000 | +50.5% |
| 45. | Croatia | $314,851,000 | +17.9% |
| 46. | Norway | $208,378,000 | -58.3% |
| 47. | Australia | $208,142,000 | +1.6% |
| 48. | Colombia | $172,054,000 | -34.2% |
| 49. | Azerbaijan | $171,710,000 | +4.3% |
| 50. | United Arab Emirates | $161,414,000 | -98.3% |
| 51. | Serbia | $140,716,000 | -7% |
| 52. | Macao | $104,352,000 | +2451% |
| 53. | New Zealand | $98,427,000 | +1922% |
| 54. | Chile | $79,147,000 | -36.2% |
| 55. | Ireland | $75,664,000 | +106.2% |
| 56. | Kazakhstan | $72,484,000 | -72.4% |
| 57. | Senegal | $51,497,000 | +1035% |
| 58. | Armenia | $49,767,000 | -89.1% |
| 59. | Russia | $46,728,000 | -77.3% |
| 60. | Greece | $46,191,000 | -23.5% |
| 61. | Philippines | $34,623,000 | +5.1% |
| 62. | Gibraltar | $31,945,000 | +127% |
| 63. | Israel | $29,093,000 | +39.8% |
| 64. | Panama | $21,489,000 | -24.6% |
| 65. | Guatemala | $14,097,000 | -34.7% |
| 66. | Tokelau | $13,720,000 | -90.7% |
| 67. | Mongolia | $13,402,000 | -30.5% |
| 68. | Andorra | $12,221,000 | -64.3% |
| 69. | Iran | $11,399,000 | -70.3% |
| 70. | Ukraine | $10,911,000 | -60.8% |
| 71. | Namibia | $8,439,000 | +24.1% |
| 72. | Moldova | $8,435,000 | -71.5% |
| 73. | Kenya | $8,095,000 | +63.7% |
| 74. | Jamaica | $8,054,000 | 0% |
| 75. | Botswana | $6,646,000 | +22.7% |
| 76. | North Korea | $5,846,000 | -62% |
| 77. | Oman | $5,756,000 | -97.9% |
| 78. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $5,284,000 | -31.5% |
| 79. | Montenegro | $4,925,000 | -1% |
| 80. | Qatar | $4,840,000 | -98.8% |
| 81. | Georgia | $4,768,000 | +44.1% |
| 82. | North Macedonia | $4,661,000 | +60.8% |
| 83. | Burkina Faso | $4,299,000 | +106.7% |
| 84. | Ecuador | $4,150,000 | +295.6% |
| 85. | Uzbekistan | $4,092,000 | -25% |
| 86. | Sri Lanka | $4,032,000 | +66.5% |
| 87. | Faroe Islands | $3,562,000 | +4.7% |
| 88. | Pakistan | $3,461,000 | +60.1% |
| 89. | Cambodia | $3,440,000 | -61.2% |
| 90. | Burundi | $3,112,000 | +137.6% |
| 91. | Malta | $2,951,000 | +8.4% |
| 92. | El Salvador | $2,730,000 | +7.8% |
| 93. | Iceland | $2,682,000 | -11.9% |
| 94. | Cyprus | $2,602,000 | -44.4% |
| 95. | Ivory Coast | $2,525,000 | -23.4% |
| 96. | Brunei Darussalam | $2,412,000 | +238.8% |
| 97. | Uruguay | $2,259,000 | +1348% |
| 98. | Trinidad/Tobago | $2,154,000 | +118% |
| 99. | Zambia | $2,114,000 | -55.2% |
| 100. | Jordan | $1,996,000 | -97% |
Expanding the scope to the 100 biggest car exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of cars were relatively smaller automobile suppliers Macao (up 2,451% from 2023), New Zealand (up 1,922%), Uruguay (up 1,348%), Senegal (up 1,035%), Ecuador (up 295.6%) then Brunei Darussalam (up 238.8%).
Posting the severest declines in their exported cars sales were Qatar (down -98.8% from 2023), United Arab Emirates (down -98.3%), Oman (down -97.9%), Jordan (down -97%), Tokelau (down -90.7%), Armenia (down -89.1%) and Russia (down -77.3%).
Average Unit Prices for Exported Cars from Selected Countries
Below, you will find the average dollar value for each car exported from selected countries.
Only included in this sample are countries that report their respective average unit prices per exported car by weight, typically tons.
- Georgia: US$74,500 per exported car (up 8.1% from 2023)
- Iraq: $61,429 per exported car (up 127.5%)
- Philippines: $34,314 per exported car (up 0.8%)
- Azerbaijan: $30,568 per exported car (up 5.3%)
- Gibraltar: $30,511 per exported car (up 13.9%)
- Kazakhstan: $30,430 per exported car (up 86.7%)
- United Kingdom: $28,420 per exported car (up 8.2%)
- Italy: $28,074 per exported car (up 7.4%)
- Andorra: $27,649 per exported car (up 1.4%)
- Austria: $25,716 per exported car (up 2.8%)
The average price per ton for cars exported from the above countries is $37,161 for 2024, up from an average $34,062 one year prior.
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 13, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 13, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 13, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 13, 2025
Wikipedia, Car. Accessed on May 13, 2025