Is there still an export source for this compact…

The same model sold at home and abroad is often not the same specification. An export version has its emission calibration redone for the target market, a different charging port, heavier cooling, and a few more documents in the pouch. So the question "is there still an export source for this compact SUV" is not whether you can buy one in China; it is whether the dealer holds a car built to the destination market's specification.

Sourcing is verified, not asked for. There is only one test: can the other side produce the export specification sheet for this vehicle, and line it up item by item — build year, version, type-approval parameters, documents in the pouch. A verbal "we have it" is a lead, nothing more.

✓Can produce the export specification sheet and the VIN

Year, trim and paperwork can all be checked; only price and lead time remain

!Offers only domestic type-approval parameters and a CCC certificate

That proves the car is legally built and sold in China, not what the export version changed

!Says China's three-guarantee cover still applies

That cover presupposes registration and use inside China; export cars usually fall outside it, per the maker's export policy

×Replies only "we have cars, how many do you want"

No year, no version, no specification sheet — that is not sourcing information

Five questions before calling it a source

What to ask	What to look at	What a blank answer tells you
Build year and first registration date	Nameplate photo, position 10 of the VIN, registration certificate	You cannot separate a new car from aged stock, and the destination's age count cannot be done
Export version or domestic version	Maker's export specification sheet, with a trim table	Most likely the domestic version is being quoted to you, with no regulatory adaptation
On the MIIT type-approval list or not	Type-approval model number, CCC certificate number	The car may come from parallel import or conversion, which puts both registration and admission at risk
Which emission stage it meets	Maker's emission statement, export-version certificate of conformity	China 6b and Euro 4 or Euro 5 are different test cycles and do not convert directly
Which documents travel with the car	Invoice, packing list, certificate of conformity, export-version manual	Documents completed after arrival — the time and the cost are yours

The site holds a model-name dictionary covering brand, series, colour, engine and trim names in Chinese and six other languages. It answers "how is this word translated", not "is this car available". There is also a vehicle snapshot with year, mileage and price fields, but it is a list captured at build time: it lags, and the row count is not a live stock count. Both are leads; neither proves stock.

Export versus domestic: three differences

Trim selection is the most visible. The same series may lose the sunroof, the leather and the large screen for an export market, or gain a tow pack, a spare-wheel carrier and twin batteries, depending on roads and usage. The second is emission and regulatory adaptation: China 6b and Euro 4 or Euro 5 are different test cycles, so a direct conversion is wrong; right-hand-drive markets need the steering moved, and lamps, seat-belt reminders and speed limiters each follow their own rules. The third is paperwork: the export version normally adds an export certificate of conformity, a foreign-language manual and destination-specific declarations. All three are settled by the maker's export specification sheet, so get that document before signing.

Four steps to put "we have it" on paper

Ask about specification, not price

Build year, export or domestic, left- or right-hand drive, emission stage, all in one go

Ask for the export specification sheet for this car

A PDF or a stamped trim table; "same as domestic" is not an answer

Check type approval and certification

Type-approval model number and CCC certificate must match the VIN, then check destination admission

Write it into the contract annex

Year, version, trim, document list, lead time, acceptance standard — no gaps

Five things that sound like a source

✓A series has a dictionary entry, so the car is said to exist — a translation proves the word, not the car
✓Counting rows in the vehicle snapshot as stock — the snapshot lags and is not a stock count
✓Using domestic type-approval parameters instead of the export sheet — type approval governs domestic build and sale
✓"The export version is the same as domestic" — without a sheet, that sentence costs nothing
✓Writing domestic three-guarantee cover into the contract — it presupposes registration in China and usually does not travel

Once these are checked, a price has something to sit on. A 30% spread in landed cost rarely comes from the car price; it comes from the trim version and the tax basis, and the article on this site about why the same car lands three ways apart works that sum through. To size the duty in the destination market, start with the duty calculator on this site (/en/duty-calculator), though the calculator works out tax, not whether an export version of this car exists.

This reflects the position verified on 5 November 2026. Export trim, accompanying documents and the scope of three-guarantee cover are set by each maker's export policy; this article commits no maker. The export specification sheet and the contract in force at the time govern.