China's EV price war reaches Thailand
Hyper-competition in China's electric vehicle sector is spilling over to its biggest market in Asia, Thailand, as smaller players struggle to compete with dominant BYD, putting ambitious local production plans at risk.
Neta, among the earliest Chinese EV brands to enter Thailand in 2022, is an example of a struggling automaker finding it difficult to meet the requirements of a demanding government incentive programme meant to boost Thai EV production.
Under the scheme, carmakers are exempt from import duties, but were obligated to match import volumes with domestic production in 2024.
Citing slowing sales and tightening credit conditions, carmakers asked the government to adjust the scheme and the 2024 production shortfall was rolled over into this year.
Neta has said that it cannot produce the required number of cars locally and the government has withheld some payments to the EV maker, said Excise Department official Panupong Sriket, who received a complaint filed last month by 18 Neta dealers in Thailand seeking to recover over 200 million baht ($6.17 million) of allegedly unpaid debt.
The complaint, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, also detailed missed payments by Neta related to promised support for building showrooms and after-sales service. "I stopped ordering more cars in September because I sensed something was wrong," said Neta dealership owner Saravut Khunpitiluck. "I'm currently suing them."
Neta's parent company, Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile, entered bankruptcy proceedings in China last month, according to state media.
Neta's share of Thailand's EV market peaked at around 12% of EV sales in 2023 when the industry was growing, according to Counterpoint Research data, with BYD having a 49% share that year.
The number of Chinese EV brands has doubled in the last year to 18, placing pressure on those that lack the reach of BYD. In the first five months of this year, new registration of Neta cars - a proxy for sales - slumped 48.5% from the prior year and its share of EV registrations was down to 4%, according to government data.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
3 hours ago
- Express Tribune
BRICS criticism brings Trump 10% tariff threat
US President Donald Trump threatened China, India, and some of the world's fastest-emerging economies with higher import tariffs, hitting back at BRICS criticism of his trade policies as the bloc meets Monday. The 11-nation grouping -- which also includes US allies Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia -- is concluding a two-day summit in Rio de Janeiro. On Sunday, BRICS leaders described Trump's stop-start tariff wars as "indiscriminate," damaging, and illegal, drawing a late-night rebuke from the pugilistic US president. "Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy," Trump wrote on social media. BRICS members account for about half the world's population and 40 percent of global economic output. Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, BRICS has come to be seen as a Chinese-driven effort to curb US global influence. But it is a quickly expanding and often divergent grouping -- bringing together arch US foes like Iran and Russia, with some of Washington's closest allies in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Some US allies inside the bloc had tried to blunt criticism of Trump by not mentioning him or the United States by name in their summit statement. Saudi Arabia -- one of the world's biggest purchasers of US high-tech weapons -- even kept its foreign minister away from Sunday's talks and a BRICS group photo of leaders, seemingly to avoid Washington's ire. But such diplomatic gestures were lost on the US president. In April, Trump threatened a slew of punitive duties, before backing off in the face of a fierce market sell-off. Now he is threatening to impose unilateral levies on trading partners unless they reach "deals" by August 1, with BRICS nations seemingly faced with higher tariffs than planned. It cannot have helped that BRICS leaders also condemned the recent US and Israeli bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities -- a show of solidarity with fellow member Iran. Beijing on Monday insisted BRICS was not seeking confrontation with the United States. "China has repeatedly stated its position that trade and tariff wars have no winners and protectionism offers no way forward," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. AFP
Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Tariff worries, Trump's BRICS swipe spark worst rupee fall in three weeks
MUMBAI: The Indian rupee slumped on Monday as uncertainty about U.S. tariff policies resurfaced with President Donald Trump's threat of a fresh 10% levy on BRICS countries compounding pressure on the local currency alongside peers like South African rand and Chinese yuan. Worries over U.S. trade policies dented risk sentiment across the board, pushing Asian currencies and equities into the red while U.S. equity futures pointed to a weak return from the long weekend. The rupee had declined to a low of 86.0275 per U.S. dollar during the session but pared losses to close at 85.85 per U.S. dollar, down 0.5% on the day, its worst performance since mid-June, when it traded in the shadow of a military conflict between Israel and Iran. In a social media post, President Donald Trump said the U.S. would start delivering tariff letters from 12:00 pm ET (1600 GMT) on Monday. In a separate post, he rolled out a wholly new tariff policy, calling for countries 'aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies' of the BRICS developing nations to be charged an extra 10% tariff, with no exceptions to be granted. Indian rupee ends nearly flat following choppy trading; forward premiums dip It was not immediately clear if Trump's tariff threat would derail trade talks with India and other BRICS nations. The South African rand fell 1% after Trump's threat while the offshore Chinese yuan was down 0.2%. The absence of progress on trade negotiations over the weekend has come as a negative surprise for markets with Trump's BRICS remark especially hurting the rupee, said Dilip Parmar, a foreign exchange research analyst at HDFC Securities. Parmar expects the Reserve Bank of India to step in to support the rupee if volatility remains elevated due to uncertainty on U.S. trade policies. On the day, traders also pointed to strong dollar demand from a large local private bank which pressured the local currency. A fall below the 85.80 level triggered stop-losses and accentuated the day's move, a trader at a state-run bank said. He expects the currency to weaken to 86.50 in the near-term in the absence of positive developments on the trade front.
Express Tribune
6 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Trump imposes 25% tariffs on Japan, South Korea ahead of trade deal deadline
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. REUTERS Listen to article US President Donald Trump said Monday he was slapping 25 percent tariffs on Japan and South Korea, in his first letters to trading partners ahead of a deadline to reach a deal with Washington. Trump had said at the weekend that starting from Monday he would send a first batch of up to 15 letters to countries informing them that he would reimpose harsh levies that he had postponed in April. In near-identically worded letters to the Japanese and South Korean leaders, Trump said the tariffs would apply from August 1 because their trading relationships with Washington were "unfortunately, far from Reciprocal." Trump warned the countries, both key US allies in East Asia, of an escalation if they responded to the new US tariffs. But he also said he was ready to modify levies "downwards" if Japan and South Korea changed their trade policies. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday that he "won't easily compromise" in trade talks with Washington. Trump originally announced sweeping tariffs on world economies on what he called "Liberation Day" on April 2, claiming the United States was being "ripped off." More Read: Rubio to attend ASEAN meeting in first visit to Asia Amid market turmoil, Trump then suspended the initial tariffs for 90 days, a deadline that expires on Wednesday. But the Trump administration has said that the duties will not "boomerang" back until August 1, apparently extending the deadline despite denials from officials. While the Trump administration has signaled hopes of striking dozens of deals by early July -- at one point boasting of "90 deals in 90 days" -- there have been limited results so far. Washington has unveiled pacts with only Britain and Vietnam, while the United States and China agreed to temporarily lower tariff levels on each other's products that earlier reached three-digits. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there would be a number of deals coming up. "We are going to have several announcements in the next 48 hours," Bessent told CNBC in an interview Monday. "We've had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals," Bessent said. There was no immediate response from the White House on whether Trump would formally extend the Wednesday deadline for the tariffs to snap back. Asked about Trump's letters, Bessent said these would inform partners of the tariff rate their products face when trading with the United States, unless they want to "come back and try to negotiate." Bessent told CNBC Monday that he would "be meeting with my Chinese counterpart sometime in the next couple of weeks." Also Read: US professors take Trump's immigration policies to court over pro-Palestinian activities The two sides have so far held high-level talks in Geneva and London. But Washington and Beijing's pause on tit-for-tat tariffs is due to expire in mid-August. On whether he was disappointed in the number of trade deals achieved so far, Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro maintained that he is "happy with the progress we've had." "Every country that we run a major deficit with is fully engaged," he told CNBC on Monday. Trump has also threatened another 10 percent tariff on countries aligning themselves with the emerging BRICS nations, accusing them of "Anti-American policies" after they slammed his duties at a summit. For now, partners are still rushing to avert Trump's tariffs altogether. The European Commission said that EU chief Ursula von der Leyen had a "good exchange" with Trump on trade when the pair spoke Sunday.
