- Thailand’s EV incentives face pressure from oversupply
- Neta’s sales in Thailand drop amid aggressive discounting and weak demand
- Neta’s downturn highlights spillover from China’s competitive auto sector
BANGKOK, July 4 (Reuters) – 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 (002594.SZ), opens new tab, 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.