China exported 51,864 automobiles (including CKDs) in the first quarter of this year, up 279.7 percent year-on-year, according to customs statistics.
 
Export value of these automobiles totaled US$116 million, which amounted to only a fraction of the US$1.56 billion of automobile imports in the same period.

Special-purpose vehicles, including vehicles for use in Golf games and on beaches, made up 75 percent of China's auto exports in this period. Other major exported vehicles were heavy-duty trucks, station wagons, cars, coaches and cross-country vehicles.

China's exports of automobiles and auto parts and components totaled US$1.49 billion in the first quarter, an increase of 50.9 percent year-on-year.

China imported 51,205 automobiles (including CKDs) in the first quarter.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2004)