A practical, no-marketing-fluff guide for dealers and fleet buyers. Covers sourcing channels, shipping modes, documentation, payment terms, typical landed costs, and the mistakes first-timers reliably make.
If you're a dealer outside China and you've looked at the current Chinese vehicle lineup, you've probably had the same thought: how hard can it be to import these myself? Short answer: not hard if you know what you're doing, painful if you don't. This guide explains what you need to know before you sign the first contract.
Every imported Chinese car flows through one of three channels. Each has different economics.
You contract directly with the automaker (or their export entity). Lowest unit price. Highest entry barrier. Factories typically require: registered buyer entity in-country, minimum order quantities of 50-100 units per model per year, established trade-finance banking, and (often) exclusive distributor agreements that restrict your flexibility. This is how established national distributors buy. For small-to-mid dealers, this channel is usually inaccessible.
You contract with a Chinese export-licensed trading company that sources cars from dealers or directly from manufacturers. Moderate unit price (the exporter's margin is included). No minimum quantity — single units are normal. This is the channel most independent international dealers use, and it's the channel FOBEV operates in.
A broker in your country (or a third country) fronts the import and resells to you. Highest unit price. Often zero local support. Useful only in specific niche cases — usually not recommended if a direct relationship with a Chinese exporter is available.
The shipping mode you choose can change your total landed cost by 20-60%.
| Mode | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| CBU | Complete Built Unit — the car arrives ready to drive | Markets with moderate CBU tariffs. Fastest delivery. Simplest documentation. |
| SKD | Semi-Knocked Down — partially disassembled (often bumpers, wheels, some interior trim removed for shipping) | Markets with high CBU tariffs but moderate SKD tariffs (e.g., Bangladesh, Pakistan). Requires local reassembly capability. |
| CKD | Complete Knocked Down — full parts kit for local assembly | Markets with very high CBU tariffs and local content requirements (e.g., parts of South Asia, some of Africa). Requires full local assembly operations. |
The tariff arithmetic matters. In Bangladesh, for example, CBU duty can exceed 150% cumulative (including customs duty, supplementary duty, VAT, advance income tax). Switching to SKD can take the effective duty burden down significantly. The catch: you need a local partner with a bonded assembly facility licensed to receive SKD shipments. We can introduce you to partners in specific markets.
At every border crossing, your paperwork is the difference between a four-hour clearance and a four-week nightmare. The core document set:
Market-specific documents on top of the core set:
The two dominant payment structures:
Standard: 30% deposit on contract signing, 70% against scan of Bill of Lading. The 30% secures your allocation and compensates the seller's inspection and preparation cost if you walk away. The 70% is paid only after the cargo is on the ship and documented. This balances risk reasonably between buyer and seller.
For orders above USD 200,000, a sight Letter of Credit issued by a first-class bank is often preferred. L/C shifts payment risk onto the banks: the seller gets paid by the issuing bank on presentation of compliant documents, and the buyer's funds are only released to the seller after confirmed shipment. More expensive (bank fees on both sides) but much safer for larger sums.
What we do not accept: Western Union, cryptocurrency, cash on delivery, split payments across multiple parties, or any arrangement that obscures the audit trail. Those structures are associated with fraud or money-laundering, and no legitimate Chinese exporter will use them.
Local type approval — making your imported vehicle legally drivable and registerable in your country — is ultimately your responsibility as the importer. We supply the manufacturer documentation, testing files, and technical spec sheets that your local homologation agency or customs authority requires. We don't file homologation paperwork on your behalf in your country.
Specific markets have specific requirements. We'll flag known issues before you order: for example, some Chinese-domestic EV models don't meet European pedestrian-protection tests and can't be WVTA-certified without modification. Worth knowing before you sign, not after the ship has left.
The following is illustrative structure only — not a quotation. Precise figures for your case are confirmed per RFQ.
Bangladesh's duty structure heavily penalizes CBU imports. Using SKD classification changes the economics significantly. For a single unit, the rough landed-cost structure breaks down as: vehicle FOB (~65%), ocean freight and logistics (~5%), SKD-classified duty and VAT (~22%), local bonded assembly and registration (~4%), other fees (~4%). The exact math moves substantially based on which specific trim you select and current exchange rates — we quote per RFQ.
UAE customs duty on passenger vehicles is 5% of CIF value, VAT is 5% of (CIF + duty). This is one of the most buyer-friendly tariff environments globally. For a single executive EV unit, rough landed-cost structure is: vehicle FOB (~85%), ocean freight and insurance (~4%), customs duty + VAT (~10%), GCC registration (~1%). The straightforward duty structure is why UAE is such a high-volume destination for premium Chinese EVs.
Nigerian cumulative import duty + levies on CBU passenger vehicles typically run 30–40% of CIF. A full 10-unit container collapses per-unit freight costs by 40-60% versus single-unit shipping. Rough structure: vehicle FOB (~60%), logistics (~4%), customs duty and levies (~32%), registration and admin (~4%). Consolidated shipments of proven high-volume export ICE models are the economic backbone of West African Chinese vehicle imports.
Short decision rule: if your annual volume per model is under 50 units, an intermediary almost certainly makes sense. The factory-direct economics only begin to work at volumes that require national-distributor-level infrastructure and capital. Most independent international dealers — and virtually all fleet buyers below 50 units — are intermediary customers, whether they use us, one of our competitors, or a local broker.
That said, once you've built volume, graduating to a direct relationship with a specific factory can save 5-10% on unit cost. We've helped several customers do exactly this — building up volume with us for 2-3 years, then negotiating a direct deal with the manufacturer once they're taking a container per month. We don't love losing those customers, but it's the right next step for them, and we say so.
The quickest way to apply all of this to your specific situation is to send us an RFQ. Tell us your market, your target volume, and your budget ceiling. We'll come back with a realistic quotation or tell you honestly that you're better off with a different approach.
You can technically go factory-direct if you have: a registered importer entity in your country with the right licenses, enough working capital to meet factory MOQs (often 50-100 units per model), a trade-finance banking relationship capable of issuing L/Cs, and logistics capacity to handle customs, homologation, and local distribution. If any of those is missing, an intermediary usually makes economic sense at small-to-mid volumes.
For small volumes (1–5 units): consolidating with other buyers' shipments in the same container. For mid volumes (5–20 units): full-container CBU loading. For high volumes (20+ units) in markets with high CBU tariffs: SKD or CKD kits if you can partner with a local bonded assembly facility. Lowest total cost depends heavily on your destination market's tariff structure — we model this per RFQ.
At minimum: Bill of Lading, Commercial Invoice, Packing List, Certificate of Origin (China CCPIT-issued), Manufacturer's Technical File, Insurance Certificate. For EVs add: battery safety certificate. For specific markets add: GCC Certificate of Conformity (Gulf), WVTA (Europe), COC (EU import), Type Approval Certificate (market-specific).
Order-to-loading: 30-45 days for in-stock vehicles, 60-90 days for factory-allocation orders. Sea transit: 7-10 days to Russian Far East, 14-22 days to Gulf/South Asia, 30-40 days to East Africa/Europe, 35-45 days to Latin America. Total door-to-door: plan for 2-4 months on a realistic basis.
Main risks: wrong specification (homologation mismatch), port/customs delays, quality issues discovered post-shipment, warranty support gaps, currency volatility during long transactions, and occasional factory production delays. An experienced intermediary absorbs most of these; a direct-import setup puts them all on you.
Send an RFQ via WhatsApp or email. Our Shanghai export desk will scope your requirements and return a qualified FOB / CIF / DDP quotation — typically within one Shanghai business day.