Thailands Sluggish EV Sales due to Subsidies affects Auto Industry

By Aarti Dhapte , 05 March, 2025

Thailand's auto industry is facing specific issues with unsold electric vehicles. The country suffers from China's dominance in the auto industry. Thailand's domestic automotive industry will suffer significant losses from Chinese electric vehicle subsidies in 2024. Thailand is known for promoting sustainability in the automotive sector. However, this is the main reason behind the chaos in Thailand's domestic automotive industry in 2024.

Earlier, Thailand announced subsidy programs to make electric vehicles at budget-friendly prices. Thus, it cut the taxes on Chinese imports of electric vehicles. This led to electric vehicles being affordable for consumers. Thailand aims to be consumer-friendly and provide a cost-effective way of dealing with the auto industry. Thailand targeted all these efforts to make the automotive sector lead globally in sustainability. Therefore, the nation removed tariffs on Chinese imports to promote sustainability in 2024. In the second quarter of 2024, however, it is creating several problems for Thailand's automotive industry. There was an excess of automobiles due to tariffs being removed on Chinese imports into Thailand and subsidies for electric vehicles being provided. In 2024, Thailand's domestic auto sector will decline due to the country's massive electric car market.

Thailand reports importing 185,029 electric cars between 2022 and the present, in 2024. Only 86,043 electric vehicles have been registered, though. This indicates a sizable number of cars that are still up for sale. In addition, the state of the Thai car industry compels vendors to lower EV pricing by 2024. This impacts the conventional vehicles sectors, namely combustion engine vehicles. Japan is the primary investor of fossil fuel vehicles in Thailand. Japanese automakers reduced production in Thailand as it failed to compete with new subsidized EVs in the nation. Therefore, it led to the closure of Japanese production plants in Thailand. Experts report that Thailand's auto sector significantly contributes to its economy. However, sluggish sales of electric vehicles can cause significant economic downturns in the country.

Thailand's government expects exponential growth in EV sales in 2024 due to subsidies