Siam Motors’ position reflects a rapid shift underway in Thailand, where Chinese investments worth $1.44 billion since 2020 – including by BYD and Great Wall Motor – have opened a new front in a market Japanese automakers historically dominated.
Thailand is Southeast Asia’s largest car producer and exporter, and its second-largest sales market after Indonesia. Japanese automakers are so dominant that for decades they have treated it almost as an extension of their home market. But China surpassed Japan as Thailand’s top foreign investor last year, boosted by BYD’s investment in a new plant set to start up in 2024, amid concerted efforts by Thai officials to draw Chinese EV producers.
BYD is now the market leader, followed by China’s SAIC and Hozon and U.S. automaker Tesla, according to registration data showing 18,481 EVs sold between January and April. Toyota said it has taken 3,356 bookings so far for the electric bZ4X, which it began selling in Thailand last year. These include lower tariffs on imports on the condition of subsequent local assembly and some tax breaks for EV manufacturing.
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