Shandong implements twelve measures to provide full-chain support for the automotive industry's overseas expansion

On April 2, the provincial meeting to promote high-quality development of Shandong’s automobile overseas expansion—“Thousands of Enterprises Going Global, Lux Travels the World”—was held in Jinan. It focused on enhancing the international competitiveness of Shandong’s automobile industry and building a platform for coordinated development of automobile overseas expansion.

Industry data show that automobiles have become the core engine driving sustained growth in Shandong’s foreign trade. In 2025, Shandong’s automobile output reached 2.6122 million units, ranking 4th nationwide; the province’s import and export scale was 3.53 trillion yuan, ranking 5th nationwide; the growth rate of automobile exports was 18.4 percentage points higher than the province’s overall foreign trade average. The commercial vehicle export volume accounted for more than one-fifth of the nation’s total. In 2025, automobile exports grew by 22.4% for the full year, with an export growth contribution rate of 15.3%. Exports of mechanical and electrical products first exceeded 1 trillion yuan. In the first two months of 2026, Shandong’s automobile export value reached 14.4 billion yuan, up sharply by 98.8% year over year. Of this, passenger vehicles increased by 122.2% and commercial vehicles increased by 92.8%. Exports of automobiles and auto parts and accessories together accounted for 11.1% of the province’s total foreign-trade export value, directly boosting the province’s export growth by 2.5 percentage points, with the industry’s export momentum continuing to release.

At the meeting, Wang Lei, Director of the Department of Commerce of Shandong Province, released on-site 12 key measures for 2026 to help service automobile companies expand into markets, increase orders, and improve quality and efficiency—covering the full chain from industrial scale, coordinated overseas expansion, platform building, market development, after-sales networks, second-hand car exports, logistics support, export tax rebates, financial insurance, customs clearance facilitation, business-related services for enterprises, and risk prevention.

More specifically, the 12 measures include: first, to expand the scale of “Shandong-made” automobiles for export. Encourage companies to develop and adapt vehicle models for overseas markets, and provide rewards for new-energy complete vehicles and new models. Second, encourage automobile trading enterprises to go overseas in a group. Support leading companies to drive clusters of small and medium-sized supporting enterprises to go overseas together, and promote an upgrade of the “complete vehicle + loose parts assembly + localized operation” model. Third, build an automobile overseas expansion development alliance and create an integrated service platform featuring coordinated governance and enterprise participation, integrating production, transportation, marketing, and finance. Fourth, carry out overseas market development. Support companies in participating in international exhibitions and provide fee subsidies. Fifth, co-build and share an international marketing and after-sales service network. Integrate resources such as overseas warehouses and repair centers to solve cross-border after-sales service challenges. Sixth, enhance the export capability of second-hand cars. Build one-stop service bases and subsidize a detection fee of up to 150 yuan per vehicle. Seventh, strengthen logistics support by promoting “factory-to-port direct connection,” optimizing roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) routes and multimodal transport. Eighth, optimize export tax rebates. For category-one and category-two enterprises, compress normal tax rebates to within 3 working days. Ninth, increase financial insurance support by providing supply-chain finance and trade credit insurance coverage during inventory preparation periods. Tenth, improve customs clearance facilitation. Support enterprises in obtaining AEO certification and optimize the inspection and testing model for power batteries. Eleventh, build a “three-in-one” business service system featuring “one platform, one mechanism, and one special working group.” Twelfth, enhance risk prevention by studying overseas market-access policies and addressing technical trade barriers and trade investigations.

The meeting also simultaneously released the “Initiative Letter of the Shandong Automobile Overseas Expansion Alliance,” pushing Shandong’s automobile industry from “solo fighting” to “sailing together as a convoy.” The public service platform of the automobile overseas expansion alliance was officially launched, enabling one-stop connection of resources such as vehicle sources, shipment slots, finance, and trade credit insurance. Jinan Customs and the Shandong Port Logistics Group also released supporting measures. Jinan Customs, together with Qingdao Customs, introduced 10 customs clearance facilitation measures, implementing appointment-based customs clearance 24/7 (7×24 hours), and promoting “land-sea coordination and sea-rail direct transport.” A pilot inspection and verification model for power batteries was rolled out, featuring “inspection verification + acceptance guarantee.” Shandong Port deployed overseas shared after-sales service sites, relying on global port resources to build a service network covering major export markets, and continuously optimize the customs clearance environment at ports.

In the precision matchmaking segment, cities including Jinan, Qingdao, Zibo, Weifang, and others held one-on-one talks with leading automobile enterprises such as BYD, FAW Jiefang, Chery, Geely, and Beijing Foton. In addition, enterprise supply-chain service companies within the province set up dedicated matchmaking zones, providing precise services around financing, logistics, customs clearance, exhibitions, and more. Multiple cooperation intentions were reached on-site.

This promotion conference and the 12 measures constitute a systematic deployment by Shandong to integrate industry, logistics, finance, and customs clearance resources. Through alliance-based and platform-based, full-chain services, it aims to solve enterprises’ challenges in channels, logistics, capital, after-sales service, risks, and other areas related to overseas expansion, and to shift automobile exports from scattered efforts to coordinated action, and from scale to quality.

Next, Shandong will continue to drive the implementation and effectiveness of the 12 measures, strengthen policy transmission and closed-loop services, and ensure that enterprises can “understand what to do, make use of it, and get real benefits.” It will continue to amplify the advantages of the industry and ports, promote coordinated overseas expansion of complete vehicles and auto parts, and support new-energy and traditional models to develop in parallel. This will help Shandong’s automobile industry move forward steadily and sail toward the global market, injecting stronger momentum into high-quality foreign-trade development for the entire province.