The export volume of Chinese automobile enterprises reached 376,000 units, an increase of 1.7 times year-on-year in April this year, continuing to grow rapidly, CCTV reported on Sunday.

From January to April this year, Chinese automobile enterprises exported 1.37 million vehicles, up 89.2 percent year-on-year, of which 348,000 were new energy vehicles, up 1.7 times year-on-year, according to China Association of Automobile Manufactures.

The main reason of this was the increase of the competitiveness of China's auto products in terms of product quality control, supply chain management and maintenance service system, said Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the association.

China's automobile export increased 58.1 percent to reach 1.07 million units in the first quarter of this year, surpassing last year's global leader, Japan, who exported 954,000 in Q1 this year.

In the first quarter, 231,000 automobiles were exported overseas, of which 40 percent were new energy vehicles, at Haitong International Automotive Terminal in Shanghai's Waigaoqiao Port Area, said Chen Jia, a leader of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Customs' inspection section.

The export routes spread throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, South America and the Middle East, according to Chen.

Currently, China's automobile industry's development mode is mainly exporting products overseas. In the future, the mode is expected to change to make direct investment in the destination country and localize the whole supply chain system, Xu said.

（Picture: Veer）