For dealers and traders: ordering Chinese cars by the container

Ordering by the container

Showrooms and traders use the same process as private buyers, only at container scale. You send the models and the quantity, and we reply with a price for each car and the freight split across the box.

How many cars a box holds depends on the cars. A 40 ft container takes two or three, and the freight is shared between them, while one car can travel alone in a 20 ft box at a higher price per car. Freight is quoted at the forwarder's rate for that sailing.

Trade terms in general: EXW, FOB and CIF

Incoterms 2020 are the ICC's standard trade terms. EXW can be used with any mode of transport, while FOB and CIF are written for sea and inland waterway shipments.

Under EXW the seller makes the goods available at the named place and has no duty to clear them for export, so the buyer carries cost and risk from there. Under FOB the seller pays up to loading on the vessel at the named port, and risk passes once the goods are on board.

CIF adds sea freight and insurance to the destination port, paid by the seller. Risk still passes at the loading port, and the insurance only has to meet the minimum of the Institute Cargo Clauses C. A buyer who wants wider cover arranges it separately.

How a Cloud Auto quote is laid out

Each car is priced on its own, with a fixed fee per car agreed before the order. The car, any work done in China and the freight sit on separate lines, so you can compare each part with other offers.

Payment runs against a pro-forma invoice, on the terms written in it. Car prices for the models we quote are on /en/cars, and trucks and machinery are on /en/industrial.

What to send us

List the models and trims, the quantity of each, and the destination country and port. Add colours and any work you want done in China, such as film or software set-up, so it appears on the quote from the start.

Destinations outside Lebanon are quoted per order. Some makers restrict the countries their cars may be sold into, so we check each destination with the exporter before quoting.

China's export licence for new electric cars

From 1 January 2026, pure electric passenger cars need an export licence, under Announcement No. 54 of 2025 from MOFCOM, MIIT, the customs administration and SAMR. The rule covers passenger vehicles with a VIN and only an electric drive motor, reference code 8703801090.

Qualification and licence procedures follow MOFCOM's 2012 notice on car and motorcycle exports. MOFCOM opened the 2026 application system on 29 September 2025, with local reviews due by 26 October 2025, and firms can check the announced lists online. Range-extender and plug-in hybrid cars are outside the rule's wording because they also have an engine.

Used-car export rules in China

For export purposes China counts any car that has completed registration and then changes owner as a used car, which takes in registered zero-kilometre cars. Announcement No. 6 of 2024, in force since 1 March 2024, lets only exporters approved by their provincial commerce department ship them, and the exporting firm must apply for the licence in its own name.

Each car needs a third-party test report against WM/T 8-2022 for passenger cars or WM/T 9-2022 for commercial vehicles. A licence covers one shipment of up to 20 vehicles under the same customs code. Cars that are mortgaged, seized, within a year of their scrappage age, or do not match their registration papers may not be exported.

A notice of 11 November 2025 tightened this further. Since 1 January 2026, a car registered for 180 days or less needs a sealed after-sales service confirmation from its maker, naming the destination country and the service outlets, or no licence is issued.

Rules on the Lebanese side

Lebanon limits diesel engines in light vehicles. Law 341/2001, dated 6 August 2001 and published on 9 August, was passed to cut pollution from diesel, and under our reading of it with Law 380/2001, diesel pickups, vans and light trucks up to 3,500 kg and diesel car engines may not be imported. For Lebanon we quote petrol, plug-in hybrid or electric pickups only.

New, fully electric cars pay no customs duty or internal consumption tax under customs decision No. 9/2026, which runs from 10 February 2026 to 9 February 2031. Used passenger cars face an eight-year age limit, which Maersk words as under eight years and one forwarder as eight years or newer, so the clearing agent confirms it for each car. Used cars must also be left-hand drive, as of October 2026, and every car needs a licensed clearing agent.

Documents in a typical order

The pro-forma invoice comes first: buyers use it to apply for import permits, open a letter of credit or arrange inspection. The exporter then holds the export licence, and a used car adds its third-party report and, if recently registered, the maker's after-sales confirmation.

Each battery electric car is booked as dangerous goods under UN 3556, the Class 9 entry that has been mandatory at sea since 1 January 2026. In Beirut the clearing agent takes over the customs file.

Questions and answers