Carmakers shipped 504,000 vehicles from China to overseas markets last month, up 34 percent year-on-year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The vehicles shipped overseas included both those from local Chinese carmakers and also international brands such as Tesla.

Exports in the first four months totaled 1.83 million units, up 33.4 percent from the same period last year.

Sales of China-made vehicles grew faster in overseas markets than in China, said the CAAM at a monthly press conference on Saturday.

In comparison, a total of 1.86 million vehicles were sold to Chinese car buyers last month, marking a 4.1 percent rise year-on-year.

And total sales in the country, the world’s largest vehicle market, from January to April stood at 7.25 million units, up 5.6 percent year-on-year.

NEVs have been driving sales growth in China, with their deliveries in the first four months this year averaging 34.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

An interesting contrast is that the growth rate of NEV exports is lower than overall vehicle exports from China, which can be attributed to less popularity of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in other parts of the world.

In the first four months, NEVs shipped out of China totaled 421,000 units, up 20.8 percent year-on-year, lower than the yearly growth of the country’s total vehicle exports, which stood at 33.4 percent in the same period.