Chongqing — A total of 4,501 vehicles were imported from January to July this year, local authorities said recently. According to the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce,  Chongqing’s vehicle imports have shown rapid growth in recent years. In 2018, the number of imported vehicles was 2,145 vehicles, up to 6,143 vehicles in 2019 and 7,795 in 2020.

It is expected that the annual import will exceed 8,000 vehicles. Chongqing has become an important import port for vehicles in inland China.

At present, brands such as Porsche, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, and auto parts companies such as Bosch and Schaeffler have used China Railway Express to Europe to carry out business in Chongqing, and the import of vehicles has achieved remarkable results.

Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Land Rover have used China-Europe Railway Express to carry out business in Chongqing. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

Under the policy guidance, Porsche and Audi changed the previous single shipping mode, transporting imported vehicles through China Railway Express to Europe. Bosch, Schaeffler, and other component manufacturers have set up distribution centers in Chongqing to carry out parts import and export business. Since the normalized transportation of Porsche's bonded imports of vehicles in September 2020, 6,947 complete vehicles have been imported so far, with a bonded value of 3.817 billion yuan. Bosch and Schaeffler are expected to have an annual import and export volume of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.

The Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce works with the Port Logistics Office of the Municipal People's Government, Chongqing Customs, Xiyong Comprehensive Bonded Zone, and other municipal departments and open platforms to optimize the import vehicle inspection process, integrate the vehicle port supervision sites. Support enterprises to carry out the bonded import of vehicles and parts in the Chongqing innovative warehousing business. 

Next, the commission will continue to build a complete industrial chain covering the import and export trade of vehicles, automobile experience center, and auto-trade city, then form vehicle ports as one-stop integrated service of after-sales maintenance for customs clearance sales, licensing, and insurance. Chongqing will eventually form a distribution center for imported cars radiating inland areas, thereby promoting the transformation, and upgrading of the city's automobile industry.

(Shi Ruiye, as an intern, also contribute to this article)