(Yicai) Dec. 27 -- China should take precautions and set up sophisticated import models to maintain car imports at a suitable scale as international relations become increasingly complex, said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.

China’s auto imports have tumbled by around 8 percent a year since 2017 due to the rise of domestic manufacturers and electric cars. In November, car imports plummeted 27 percent from the same period last year to 60,000 vehicles. And in the first 11 months, they slumped 11 percent to 640,000 units. Back in 2017, the country imported 1.2 million autos.

China imports most of its passenger vehicles from Japan, Germany and the US. In the first 11 months, the number of autos imported from Japan advanced 2 percent from a year earlier to 193,016 vehicles, ranking first. Imports from Germany plunged 18 percent to 179,331 vehicles while those from the US sank 13 percent to 99,970 cars. China also imports cars from Slovakia, the UK, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Mexico and South Korea.

Most of the imported cars are gasoline-powered passenger cars and imports of new energy vehicles only accounted for 5 percent in the 11 months ended Nov. 30.

Imports of ordinary autos have shrunk considerably and the majority of the imports are of luxury vehicles, according to the China Passenger Car Association. In the first 11 months, sales of imported Lexus vehicles climbed 4 percent year on year to 163,956 units, while that of imported BMWs tumbled 8 percent to 152,566 units, and that of Mercedes-Benz sank 5 percent to 136,453 autos.

Imports of ultra-luxury cars, such as Maserati, Bentley and Lamborghini, though, have started to fall after rising in recent years. These imports plunged 46 percent from January to November from a year earlier to 5,824 units, and in 2023 they slumped 12 percent year on year to 11,852 autos.

The price of imported vehicles has surged 60 percent over the past 10 years to CNY404,600 (USD55,400) per auto at the beginning of the year from CNY252,100 in 2015, according to customs data.

Editor: Kim Taylor