(Yicai) June 12 -- AliExpress has become the first of China’s top four international e-commerce platforms to sell entire vehicles overseas.

The Alibaba-owned marketplace has begun listing vehicles for sale directly to consumers in the Middle East, with models from Chinese new energy vehicle brands already available. Popular models such as BYD’s Yuan Plus and Xiaomi’s SU7 are listed for sale on the platform’s newly opened auto trading section, Yicai found.

Many of the car brands are participating in the “100 Billion Yuan Subsidy for Brands Going Abroad,” a campaign launched by AliExpress last year to help support businesses expanding into overseas markets with sales and logistics fulfillment.

AliExpress previously only offered auto parts for sale in overseas markets. The sale of entire vehicles is being trialed in this year’s 618 shopping festival, China's second-largest annual online retail event, which is held around June 18.

Chinese automakers have mainly focused on business-to-business sales overseas, a sales executive at one told Yicai. But as cross-border e-commerce matures and Chinese car firms build stronger brand recognition overseas, selling directly to consumers via online marketplaces has become a viable new channel.

However, unlike e-commerce sales of smaller items, delivering whole vehicles to buyers will still rely on automakers' own logistics and warehousing systems, the person noted.

Also, if the physical after-sales service network in the buyer's country is inadequate, service costs could rise sharply, posing a major challenge for auto producers, the executive added. One workaround could be for the firms to provide free spare parts along with the vehicle, so buyers can do simple replacements themselves.

Chinese-made vehicles are increasingly popular overseas. China’s auto exports surged 23 percent to 6.41 million units last year, according to figures from the country’s General Administration of Customs.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Tom Litting