Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, June 14, according to the Nikkei Chinese website, Chinese pure electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are launching a fierce offensive in Thailand, but Japanese manufacturers have a weak sense of presence.

According to statistics from Thailand's AutoLife, in March 2023, BYD accounted for 39% of the Thai EV market, Tesla ranked second with 24%, SAIC (15%), NETA (11%) and Great Wall Motor (3%) respectively ranked 5th. The overall share of Chinese brands has reached about 70%.

According to the report, electric vehicle sales in Thailand reached 6262 in March, rising to 9.7 times that of the same period last year, of which BYD's ATTO 3 (yuan PLUS overseas version) accounted for nearly 40%. The model went on sale in Thailand in November 2022 and quickly overtook other models to take the top spot.

In addition to BYD, SAIC announced in May that it would form a joint venture with CP Group, Thailand's largest consortium, to sell pure electric vehicles in Thailand under the brand name MG. SAIC is one of the first EV manufacturers to enter the Thai market and has delivered 10, 000 electric vehicles in Thailand. Changan Automobile has previously announced that it will invest 9.8 billion baht (CTOnews.com Note: about 2.026 billion yuan) to build an electric vehicle factory with an annual production capacity of 100000 vehicles in Thailand, and will also produce products such as on-board batteries.

Compared with Chinese manufacturers, Japanese manufacturers are somewhat deserted in Thailand.

Toyota had previously launched its main pure electric vehicle, the bZ4X, in Thailand, but AutoLife data showed that only two of the cars were sold in March. Nissan's LEAF, another Japanese car giant, sold only six cars in Thailand in a single month. It is worth noting that although the performance in the EV market is poor, Japanese cars account for 80% of Thailand's total new car sales.

For this phenomenon, Japanese media analysis believes that it is related to multiple factors. Starting from 2022, the Thai government has paid a sales subsidy of up to 150,000 baht (currently about 31000 yuan) for each electric vehicle on the condition of local production, while the excise tax on passenger cars has been reduced from 8% to 2%, and pickups are tax-free. These measures have made the price of China's EV, which is already relatively cheap, no different from that of fuel cars.

On the other hand, China and Thailand have a profound traditional friendship, and there are a large number of overseas Chinese consortia in Thailand, which makes Chinese EV manufacturers very early and convenient to enter the Thai market. In addition to the aforementioned BYD, SAIC and Changan, Great Wall also acquired GM's Thai plant in 2020 and put forward a plan to invest 22.6 billion baht (currently about 4.673 billion yuan) for reconstruction. Local production is expected to start as early as 2024.

As for the continued expansion of Chinese manufacturers, Japanese media finally pointed out that Japanese manufacturers should first make clear their coping strategies, and then compete with Chinese manufacturers as pioneers and leaders in the Thai market for a long time.

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