About 70% of more than 20 Chinese carmakers with a presence outside of China are expected to see an uptick in the number of employees sent to work overseas in 2023, reflecting their increased bet on international expansion as they face intensifying competition at home, reports Caixin. That’s an estimate from a white paper jointly published Monday by three subsidiaries of New York-based risk adviser Marsh McLennan. It came against the backdrop of China having overtaken Japan as the world’s largest car exporter by volume earlier this year.
Meanwhile, 84% of the Chinese carmakers have dispatched employees overseas for work assignments for periods of more than a year since the beginning of 2023, as more Chinese automotive firms attempt to build complete value chains abroad incorporating research and sales, according to the white paper.
Those people working overseas are mainly mid-level executives, technicians and salespeople, it said. The US is the top destination for employees dispatched by Chinese carmakers this year, followed by Japan and Germany, with the number of such workers growing significantly in Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, the paper said.