April 2026  |  Insights

I was recently in Shanghai at the automotive logistics conference organised by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

 

A lot of presentations, but as ever some of the interesting parts was the conversations around it.

 

One thing stood out.

 

Outside China, people still tend to explain success with cost or policy support. That’s part of it, but it misses something important — the speed at which things are actually being done.

 

Decisions are made quickly.

Markets are entered in parallel.

Supply chains are being built while volumes are already moving.

 

That “China speed” creates a very different challenge for logistics.

 

Capacity has to be secured earlier.

Networks are not built step by step — they’re built while they’re already running.

And when something goes wrong, it shows up immediately.

 

Behind the growth, capacity — especially in shipping — still feels tight and reactive.

 

At the same time, the model is changing.

 

It’s no longer just about exporting vehicles from China. More and more, it’s about building local operations — production, supply chains, and support — in multiple regions at the same time.

 

Latin America, the Middle East, parts of Europe — all growing, all different, all adding complexity.

 

I heard it put quite simply:

“We used to plan exports. Now we plan local operations.”

 

That shift is also changing the role of logistics.

 

It’s not just about moving vehicles.

It’s about reliability, timing, compliance — and ultimately how the customer experiences the product.

 

One point that came up a few times:

cost still matters, but certainty matters more.

 

Delays and missed capacity are becoming more expensive than small savings.

 

Europe is a good example. Still a key market, but not an easy one — fragmented, regulated, relationship-driven. Ports like the Port of Barcelona are positioning well, but access alone doesn’t solve the problem.

 

Execution does.

 

And then there’s aftersales.

 

Outbound is scaling quickly, but support in-market is not always keeping up.Selling the vehicle is one thing. Supporting it properly is where the real test will come.

 

There’s also a broader shift happening around control, visibility and how much of the network OEMs want to own versus outsource — still evolving.

 

Two areas to watch from here:

 

KD and localisation — moving closer to the customer

Aftersales — catching up with the growth.

 

Both will become more important quite quickly.

 

Overall, it feels like the question has changed.

 

It’s no longer how to export vehicles.

It’s how to operate globally.

 

And more and more, logistics is where that either works — or doesn’t.

 

If it’s useful, I’ve got a more detailed set of notes on what came out of Shanghai — happy to share.

 

Louis