The overseas expansion journey of construction machinery enterprises is entering a critical stage of high-quality development. From January to October 2025, China's construction machinery import and export trade volume reached USD 50.718 billion, up 11.5% year on year, of which export value was USD 48.526 billion, up 12% year on year. More noteworthy is that the overseas revenue share of leading domestic enterprises has exceeded or approached 50%. 

These data fully confirm that overseas markets have become the core engine for the sustained growth of Chinese construction machinery enterprises, and the going-global strategy has long since transformed from an optional "bonus item" into a "must-answer question" concerning the long-term development of enterprises.

01 Diversified Overseas Expansion Paths of Enterprises

In the process of globalization, Chinese construction machinery enterprises have not adopted a single model; instead, based on their own resource endowments and the characteristics of target markets, they have explored diversified overseas expansion paths, presenting a pattern of "eight immortals crossing the sea, each displaying their own prowess."

Zoomlion has built a global operating system centered on the "airport hub model": the headquarters has established an overseas company to coordinate the "ground forces," while each business division has set up overseas departments as the "flying forces," and has also distinguished domestic and overseas markets in R&D, manufacturing, sales, and service, forming a crisscrossing overseas service matrix.

The secret of Zoomlion's globalization strategy: end-to-end, digitalization, and localization. End-to-end means eliminating agents and, based on the airport hub model, directly connecting the manufacturing end with the market end. Through the end-to-end model, the global R&D platform built by Zoomlion brings the company closer to local markets and enables it to precisely grasp end-customer needs, which helps with the R&D, innovation, upgrading, and improvement of its products—one of the important reasons for the rapid growth of its overseas business.

Based on the above direct-sales management advantages of "end-to-end, digitalization, and localization," Zoomlion's overseas business not only has the fastest growth rate but also the highest profit margin among leading OEMs, demonstrating the characteristics of high-quality development.

XCMG proposed its internationalization main strategy in 2021 and formulated a "two-step" target path: "from a strong local and globally renowned brand to a globally trusted brand, and from a globally trusted brand to a world-class brand." Currently, it has entered a new stage of deeply cultivating overseas markets, adhering to full value chain overseas expansion covering "R&D, production, supply, sales, service, and finance" to provide strong support for its global layout, and has formed a four-in-one international development model of product export, overseas plant construction, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and global collaborative R&D.

At present, XCMG has R&D centers, manufacturing bases, or KD factories in more than 10 countries including Germany, the United States, Brazil, and India. Its products are exported to more than 190 countries and regions, covering 97% of the countries along the "Belt and Road," ranking first in export market share in 35 countries, and it has established more than 2,000 overseas outlets worldwide to provide users with comprehensive marketing services.

Sany Heavy Industry established the "two new and three transformations" strategy in 2021, comprehensively advancing "intelligentization, electrification, and internationalization." In 2023, Sany Heavy Industry re-proposed the strategy of "globalization, digital intelligence, and low-carbonization," upgrading "internationalization" to "globalization" and making globalization the "first of the three transformations strategy."

Sany Heavy Industry's globalization is the global implementation and expression of its accelerated formation of new quality productive forces, specifically reflected in the deep synergy of five dimensions: R&D globalization, with the company building a "1+5+N" global R&D system and possessing 21 R&D centers; manufacturing globalization, with Sany Heavy Industry empowering industrial innovation through intelligent manufacturing and building 35 smart factories worldwide; service globalization, with Sany now building new core competitiveness in the global market by increasing service exports and becoming a comprehensive service provider; business globalization, with Sany Heavy Industry building an international workforce of more than 4,500 people worldwide, with a localization rate of overseas personnel as high as 70%; and product globalization, with Sany's overseas market share significantly increasing in recent years.

LiuGong shares features "regional customization + channel synergy." Relying on its production bases in India and the United States, LiuGong has launched customized loaders and road rollers for unique local working conditions, greatly improving product adaptability and market acceptance. In the Latin American market, LiuGong partnered with local dealers to launch a "trade-in" policy, precisely targeting demand for replacing old equipment and driving local sales up 25% year on year in the third quarter.

Huang Haibo, Vice Chairman and Senior Vice President of Guangxi LiuGong Machinery Co., Ltd., stated: "Globalization is not fighting alone but winning together with local partners. By building a collaborative network, we can both leverage our own manufacturing advantages and rapidly penetrate markets through local channels."

Zhejiang Dingli achieved operating revenue of RMB 4.336 billion in the first half of 2025, of which overseas revenue was RMB 3.373 billion, accounting for 77.8% of total revenue. Zhejiang Dingli's success in the global market mainly lies in its dual-driven global layout of "technological M&A + localized operations."

Technological M&A: since 2016, Zhejiang Dingli has successively acquired equity in Italy's MAGNI, Germany's TEUPEN, and the century-old U.S. industry brand MEC, established R&D centers in Italy, Germany, and the United States, absorbed advanced technologies, enhanced R&D and innovation capabilities, and achieved technological globalization.

Localized operations: Zhejiang Dingli now has more than ten overseas branches/subsidiaries, fully covering the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Australia, and other regions, achieving a 100% localization rate, uniformly equipped warehouses, and local technical and service teams, realizing the integration of sales, warehousing, and after-sales service.

Nanfang Luji has designated internationalization as its corporate development strategy. Its Chairman Fang Qingxi stated: "The company's ultimate goal is to become a global construction machinery enterprise. To this end, the company has formulated a 'global development plan' to lay out global R&D, production, and sales. With the Chinese headquarters as the core, we continuously develop new products tailored to customers' local markets."

At present, products from Nanfang Luji's 3 major segments and 8 series in multiple specifications have entered Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other regions, and are exported to more than 70 countries and regions. In 2024, Nanfang Luji's overseas revenue grew substantially year on year, reaching a new high of 25.96% of main business revenue, successfully entering high-end markets such as Europe, North America, and Japan, and reaching strategic cooperation with multiple international customers.

02 Future Trends and Outlook

As competition in the global construction machinery market intensifies, Chinese enterprises' overseas strategies will further upgrade and evolve, showing the following clear trends.

From "going out" to "going in" and then to "going up": Chinese construction machinery enterprises are gradually realizing the transformation from simple product export to localized operations and brand building, and then to participation in standard-setting and ecosystem building. For example, LiuGong promotes standards in Indonesia, and its electric loaders have exceeded a 24% market share in Indonesia. This standard output means that the international influence of Chinese enterprises is continuously increasing.

Electrification and intelligentization become breakthrough weapons: from January to October 2025, cumulative sales of China's electric loaders reached 24,114 units, a sharp increase of 167.9% year on year. At the same time, exports of electric construction machinery are also gradually expanding; for example, in July, 15 customized XCMG XC975-EV pure electric loaders were lined up and exported to Europe. This technological advantage will help Chinese enterprises compete with international giants in high-end markets.

Building a global financing service system: as the proportion of international business increases, Chinese construction machinery enterprises are accelerating the construction of a global financing service system to solve customers' funding problems and enhance product competitiveness. This innovative model combining industry and finance will help enterprises cope with exchange rate fluctuations and reduce transaction costs.

From single-product competition to ecosystem competition: in the future, competition among construction machinery enterprises will no longer be competition among single products, but competition among industrial chains, value chains, and ecosystems. Chinese enterprises are transforming "transactional relationships" into "symbiotic relationships" by building a "product + service + ecosystem" value network, achieving the leap from "market entry" to "market leadership."

The overseas exploration of Chinese construction machinery enterprises has long gone beyond attempts along a single path and has become a vivid footnote to "China Intelligent Manufacturing" advancing toward the high end of the global value chain. In the future, Chinese enterprises will surely accelerate the leap from "going out" to "going up," strengthen their international discourse power in global infrastructure markets, and forge the "Chinese strength" in the global construction machinery field.