AUTOMOTIVE STUDY 2025 / Šaroch (ed.) et al.

1.1.3 Foreign trade in passenger cars by country If we look at the largest producers of passenger cars in terms of the volume of trade balance, countries such as Brazil, Turkey, the United Kingdom, France, the USA and Iran have a negative balance (i.e. they import more) according to the UN Comtrade database. Germany (USD 100 billion) and Japan (USD 98 billion) had the largest excess of exports over imports of passenger cars in 2023. China was also in a positive trade balance, with a balance of USD 30 billion. e Czech Republic’s balance is positive at USD 25 billion. Fig. 1.5: Trade balance of passenger motor vehicle trade in selected countries (2023 and 2021, USD billion)

Source: UN Comtrade Database; these are the leading passenger car manufacturers; SITC 7812; * data for 2022, ** data only for 2021

1.2 Global car sales: Market penetration and major players For many European carmakers, Europe and Asia are the dominant world regions in terms of car sales (by number of units sold or by revenue). e weight of the Asian region is often similar to that of Europe. is is shown in the companies’ annual reports. For example, the share of the Asian region in Volkswagen’s sales in 2023 was around 40%, while Europe’s share was 41%. China alone accounted for 36% of the group’s global sales in 2023. Passenger car sales in 2023 amounted to 65.3 million units worldwide, an increase of 11% compared to 2022. World sales thus even slightly exceeded the level of 2019. e Asian region has long had the largest share of sales, with almost 43 million passenger cars sold in 2023 (65% share). Of these, China alone accounts for 26 million units sold (40% share). Sales in Europe amounted to 15 million units (23% share). In

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