Thread: Chinese EVs Uber Alles?

China’s EV Makers Bet They Can Dethrone Japan Brands in Thailand

• Government subsidies are helping BYD and Neta boost sales
• Toyota, Isuzu losing share in key Southeast Asian market

Chinese brands now make up 10% of the entire market.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

By Tsuyoshi Inajima (Bloomberg)
April 9, 2024 at 8:09 AM GMT+7

Standing in front of a large crowd at last month’s Bangkok International Motor Show, an executive from Hozon New Energy Automobile Co. promised to double sales in Thailand to 30,000 electric vehicles this year.

The Chinese manufacturer, which operates as Neta Auto, was hardly known in Thailand until last year. With sleek, stylish models that appeal to young people, Hozon sold 105,563 units globally, according to Bloomberg NEF. That compares with more than 3 million units sold by BYD Co., the market leader.


A Neta GT displayed at the Bangkok International Motor Show on March 27.Photographer: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images

China’s carmakers aren’t just offering affordable options in emerging markets — in most cases, they’re the only option. Legacy automakers from Toyota Motor Corp. to Nissan Motor Co. don’t have the line up of electric cars that China’s automakers do and certainly not at the wide range of price points like BYD, whose cheapest EV hatchback starts from around $10,000.

In Thailand that means Toyota, Isuzu Motors Ltd. and other Japanese carmakers are under threat in a market they have long dominated. Last year, Japanese automakers’ share of the Thai market has slipped below 80% after holding above that level for years. With demand for EVs from the likes of Hozon, the time to go big is now, according to Vice President Wang Chengjie.

“I feel no need to wait for five years,” Wang said of plans to double the output of Hozon’s new Thai factory, which is capable of making 20,000 Netas a year. “It will come true very soon.”

In a market with about 800,000 vehicle sales each year, that’s not a small number. EV sales in Thailand grew last year to about 76,000 from less than 10,000, according to Bloomberg Intelligence senior auto analyst Tatsuo Yoshida. Chinese brands now make up 10% of the entire market, while Japanese legacy carmakers lost 8.2 percentage points last year after taking a 80%-plus share for years.

What’s playing out in Thailand could be a harbinger of what could happen in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries, where Japanese brands have long dominated. New vehicle sales and registrations across Asean nations rose 18% to 3.27 million units 2022, according to the Japan External Trade Organization. That makes the region one of the world’s biggest automobile markets, just between No. 4 Japan and No. 5 Germany.

Thailand is the largest auto manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia, winning it the moniker of the Detroit of Asia, thanks to a network of suppliers built by Japanese companies for fuel-burning cars. That’s attracted BYD, Great Wall Motor Co. and other EV makers seeking to tap into local labor and know-how. Chinese automakers aren’t just setting up factories in Thailand, they’re also exporting record numbers of new-energy vehicles to Thailand and other countries, with China surpassing Japan as the world’s top car exporter.

“Japan’s carmakers must not remain complacent” when looking at what’s happening in Thailand and the rest of the region, said Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at automotive consultancy Carnorama.

Other countries are embracing incentives to foster EV growth. Chinese and South Korean firms are waging a battle to carve out market share in Indonesia, the biggest market in Southeast Asia; Isuzu and Suzuki Motor Corp. have recently lost market share in the country. Although EVs accounted for just 1% of Southeast Asia’s passenger vehicle sales in 2020, according to Bloomberg NEF, that number will reach 14% in 2030 and 64% in 2040.


An XPeng P7i at the Bangkok International Motor Show.Photographer: Andre Malerba/Bloomberg

Xpeng Inc., which counts Alibaba Group Holding as one of its shareholders, announced plans at this year’s Bangkok International Motor Show to break into the Southeast Asian market. It will begin deliveries from the third quarter in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

The growth of Chinese EVs in Thailand can be traced back to a public initiative
that was announced in February 2022, including subsidies of as much as 150,000 baht ($4085) per EV, as well as related tax breaks. That compares with the average monthly Thai household income of 27,352 baht in 2021.Southeast Asia “is one of our strategic focus as we broadly expand our footprint outside of China,” Xpeng Vice

President Jiaming “James” Wu said in an interview. “This is the right time for us to come because most of the Southeast Asia countries are now gradually opening up and creating favorable policies for EVs to come into these markets.”

Given the size of Thailand’s agricultural sector, pickup trucks account for about 40% of new car sales, making it a critical segment. Toyota and Isuzu have long enjoyed a strong grip in that market, with four out of every five pickups from those manufacturers, but they’re beginning to clash with Chinese brands expanding their lineups to include pickups.

The goal is is attract customers like Kamphon Thamwapee, a sugar cane farmer in Northeast Thailand who recently ordered his sixth Toyota, a pickup. At the motor show in Bangkok, Great Wall unveiled a new product squarely targeting customers like Thamwapee: a hybrid pickup.


A D-Max pick-up truck leaves the assembly line at the Isuzu Motors Samrong plant in Thailand.Photographer: Andre Malerba/Bloomberg

The thinking behind the hybrid pickup is that it could offer better value for customers seeking to reduce fuel usage. The truck, which doesn’t yet have a sticker price, will be “premium and luxury,” according to Michael Chong, general manager of Great Wall Motor Thailand. He also said he doesn’t “any difficulty” in developing an electric pickup, hinting at the possibility of a commercial product in the future.

In order to defend its flank, Toyota announced plans to roll out an EV Hilux pickup truck in Thailand by the end of 2025. Isuzu also unveiled the D-Max, its first EV pickup, at the show. Isuzu’s Managing Executive Officer Satoshi Yamaguchi said its rollout has only been confirmed for Norway, while for other markets the company has to first examine what kind of added value can be provided to customers who are interested in purchasing EVs.

The Chinese are doing something similar to what Japanese brands did in Europe during the 60s and 70s.

Back then, the Japs loaded base models with radios, tape players and interiors that were all extras in Europe. The cars were also cheap because the Japanese were better at mass production than European makers.

Fast forward and the Chinese are doing similar with EVs. Because they have no manufacturing history, these EVs are subsidized by government copying or buying western vehicles, underwritten by cheap labour costs.

Get used to it. Lazy British workers, pushed by unions, lost marques like Rover, Austin, Triumph and drove Ford and GM models to mainland Europe.

I may be wrong usually am but not sue ev is the future rather than hydrogen and other gases, not gasolene in American way

Sometimes the early version BSB squarial ,Sinclair C5 nor betamax don't become leader.

While all for small footprint and less fossil fuel polltion we need unbiased thorough data through the life of different modes.

Battery production, safety and disposal, replacement need to be factored in

Everyone who can afford loves the freddom of own transport whatever the power train

Very hard other than inner city hops and airport express links to compete

In our aircon saloon

Can drive to CMai me 3.5hrs her 5
we leave anytime in privare secure space
Own choice of temp music etc
Stop anywhere for food drnk shopping
Can bring back gran kids dogs etc

In a generation when Greta types rule maybe middle class white Americans will mingle on the bus as happily as they do on a plane.

We boomers, evenn with modest income were blessed with fewer cars free parking, fuel so cheap hardly looked our grandkids won' have that freedom unless v rich.

Driving whole east of Oz,
200km to mardi gras in the big easy ,
and Californias old coast rds wonderful memories.