This story by By Zhaoyin Feng and Hasya Nindita originally appeared on Global Voices on 9 October 2025
This article was submitted as part of the Global Voices Climate Justice fellowship, which pairs journalists from Sinophone and Global Majority countries to investigate the effects of Chinese development projects abroad. Find more stories here.
Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) have made significant inroads into Southeast Asia in recent years. If you hop into a new electric vehicle in Southeast Asia, chances are it’s a BYD, Xpeng, Chery, Wuling, or another Chinese brand. In Thailand, the largest EV market in Southeast Asia, 85 percent of electric car sales in 2024 were Chinese-made. In Malaysia, Chinese EV maker BYD was the bestselling EV brand in 2024. In Indonesia, Chinese EV imports accounted for two-thirds of the country’s total EV sales last year.
Southeast Asia is emerging as a powerhouse for EV consumption, fueled by a burgeoning middle class, an appetite for new tech, and a rising desire for sustainable transport. EV sales in Vietnam and Indonesia grew exponentially in 2024, respectively nearly doubling and tripling their sales numbers from the previous year. The EV sales shares in the two countries are now comparable to high-income economies such as Spain or Canada.
“Public acceptance of EVs is steadily increasing [in Indonesia],” said Muhammad Nur Yuniarto, executive director of the Automotive Control System Center at the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology in Surabaya, Indonesia. “Initially, there were concerns about battery durability and reliability, but these have been dispelled as EVs have proven reliable and safe for daily use,” he told BenarNews, a South and Southeast Asian regional news outlet.
Generally speaking, Chinese EVs enjoy a good reputation in the region and represent a high level of tech innovation. An Indonesian autoshow visitor told CNN Indonesia:
Analysts say that favorable local policies and relatively affordable prices play an instrumental role in the boom of Chinese EVs in middle- and low-income countries. Last year, across all emerging economies outside of China, Chinese EVs made up 75 percent of the increase in electric car sales.
The stunning growth of Chinese EVs in Southeast Asia is driven by a mix of “push and pull” factors.
In Southeast Asia, many countries have made ambitious pledges to increase the market share of electric vehicles and, therefore, implemented various policies to facilitate EV adoption. For example, in Malaysia, EV owners are exempt from paying road taxes until the end of this year. The government also provides subsidies for charging stations and various incentives for manufacturers.
In Indonesia, some Chinese automakers have enjoyed an import tax waiver to incentivize foreign car companies to establish local assembly plants. As a result, the sales of Chinese EVs increased by a startling 18-fold in 2024 compared to the previous year.
In congested and polluted megacities in Southeast Asia, such as Jakarta, Bangkok, and Manila, there are traffic restrictions applied to conventional gas cars. To curb congestion and emissions, cars are only allowed on the streets on specific days or times based on their licence plate numbers. However, EVs are currently not subject to such driving restrictions, contributing to higher demand for EVs.
On the other hand, in China, after years of heavy investment and supply chain development, EV companies face market saturation and overcapacity, prompting them to expand abroad. As domestic demand is outpaced by rising supply, Chinese car manufacturers find themselves locked in a volatile price war in China and must look outside the country if they want to keep growing.
While Europe has been the largest export market for Chinese-made electric cars, the EU’s high import taxes and the reluctance of European consumers to buy Chinese brands have cast a shadow on the automakers’ overseas expansion plans. The value share of Chinese EV exports to Europe has fallen from over 70 percent in 2021 to roughly 40 percent in 2024. Instead, Chinese EV makers are making headway in Latin America and Southeast Asia, where there are fewer regulatory hurdles and soaring demand for EVs.
Industry analysts state that Southeast Asia can be a lucrative market for Chinese EV companies, given the region’s abundance of resources, neutral geopolitical position, close trade relationships with China, and massive growth potential in domestic markets.
Additionally, fierce competition among Chinese brands and swift technological advancements have driven down battery prices, improving the affordability of Chinese EVs and making them more attractive for price-sensitive consumers in Global South countries. In 2024, in most emerging economies, Chinese EVs were by far the most affordable option. In Thailand, the average price of a Chinese EV was lower than that of a conventional gas car, with the lowest priced EV models starting at only TBH 250,000 (USD 7,668) and going up to TBH 1.2 million (approximately USD 35,000), while the average price of gasoline cars remains around TBH 815,000 (USD 23,600).
In addition to exporting cars to Southeast Asia, Chinese automakers are also investing in local production and assembly, which will help preempt future trade tariffs and enhance their price competitiveness and brand recognition in the local markets. Currently, overseas plants operated by Chinese manufacturers account for only 5 percent of electric car sales in emerging markets, a share that is expected to increase.
BYD is an example of an overseas manufacturing success story. Having established four overseas factories in Thailand, Uzbekistan, Brazil, and Hungary, the Chinese automaker, which surpassed Tesla as global top selling EV brand last year, is investing in a USD 1 billion plant in West Java, Indonesia.
“Every single progression of our local manufacturing is quite smooth and also on track. We will keep our commitment, which is that by the end of 2025, we will complete the construction work,” according to Eagle Zhao, president director of BYD Indonesia. The automaker is simultaneously building a new factory in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, further enhancing its regional manufacturing capacity.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto commented that BYD’s symbolic investment in the Indonesian factory “can strengthen the era of electric vehicles.”
This mega facility signals the Chinese company's long-term commitment to Indonesia. The plant has a planned annual capacity of 150,000 units, more than three times the country’s total EV sales last year. With this investment, BYD secured a temporary waiver of import duties, further boosting its sales in Indonesia.
Indonesia is the largest automobile market in Southeast Asia. With its population of 283.5 million and fast-growing middle class, it is considered a “strategic battleground” for Chinese EV companies going overseas, forcing BYD and other Chinese automakers, such as Wuling, Chery, FAW, Neta, Great Wall, and GAC Aion, to compete to invest in the archipelago.
However, there are some concerns that the ongoing price war in China could ultimately backfire on manufacturers and consumers both domestically and abroad.
The volatile market and razor-thin margins mean many Chinese EV companies are struggling to stay afloat amid unsustainably low prices and being forced out of business, leaving their consumers in a lurch. Others are expanding abroad too quickly before they have the supply chain capacity for servicing and manufacturing. Industry experts warn that this could hurt the reputation of Chinese EV brands in the long term. Li Yunfei, general manager of brand and public relations at BYD, said at a June 6 industry forum:
The government has stepped in to try to curb the ongoing price wars, with the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (中汽协) releasing an official statement on May 31, titled “关于维护公平竞争秩序 促进行业健康发展的倡议” (Initiative on Maintaining Fair Competition Order and Promoting Healthy Industry Development), urging companies to “strictly abide by the principles of fair competition” (严格遵从公平竞争原则), and not monopolize the market or undercut competitors.
As one official from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said to Xinhua, a state-affiliated news outlet:
Though Chinese EVs are making headway in Southeast Asia, they are facing challenges not only from renowned international auto giants, such as Toyota and Hyundai, but also from emerging local brands.
Vietnamese carmaker VinFast is gaining traction in both domestic and international markets, with rising exports to Indonesia, Malaysia, and the US. The company is currently planning to double its production in Vietnam and is building overseas production facilities in India.
VinFast also has a near monopoly on the charging stations in Vietnam, which makes the country a tough market to crack for Chinese auto companies. Cars from some Chinese brands can only charge at limited third-party charging facilities.
“Additionally, the long-standing anti-China sentiment in Vietnam could pose a significant hurdle for BYD, potentially affecting consumer perception and acceptance,” Abhik Mukherjee, an auto analyst at Counterpoint Research, told Rest of World.
Except in Vietnam, Chinese EV companies currently have a leading position in Southeast Asia. With their affordable models, sizable investment, and political support from the local governments, they are poised to deepen their foothold in this key EV battleground.
(NS)
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