Thailand Triples EV Import Duties to Spur Domestic Manufacturing
Thailand's cabinet has approved raising import tariffs on battery-electric and range-extended electric vehicles from 10–15 percent to a uniform 35 percent, effective January 1, 2027. The Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand welcomes the move as a first step to protect domestic manufacturing but urges comprehensive reforms including stricter local-content rules, BOI privilege reviews, and stronger rules-of-origin enforcement to ensure investment shifts from importing to local production.
The Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand (EVAT) describes the new 35 percent import tariff on battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs) as merely a "first step to stop the bleeding" and calls for structural reforms to follow. Association president Surasak Saengsanit said EVAT welcomes the cabinet's decision to raise the excise tax on imported BEVs from 10 to 35 percent and on REEVs from 15 to 35 percent, effective January 1, 2027. The move, which EVAT and allied industry groups have pushed for since March 2026, is seen as an initial measure to ease the impact on domestic operators and to link imports with greater investment and value creation in Thailand.
Surasak emphasized that EVAT's aim is not to block trade or close the market, but to create incentives that shift investors from pure importing to building factories, creating jobs, and using locally produced parts — thereby preserving Thailand's manufacturing base and automotive supply chain. However, he noted the tax adjustment is only a starting point. EVAT outlined eight further structural proposals:
1. Reform tax and import quotas to set a clear duty gap between imported and locally built vehicles, and grant low-tariff import quotas only to companies that genuinely invest in production, local parts sourcing, charging stations, R&D, and battery recycling. 2. Raise local-content requirements by revising the domestic value-added verification criteria — currently set at 40 percent — to reflect real production and tighten rules on Thai-sourced raw materials. 3. Promote the use of Thai parts by encouraging automakers to procure shared components for both EVs and internal-combustion vehicles from domestic suppliers, especially high-value items such as chassis and body structures. 4. Review Board of Investment (BOI) privileges, proposing to close promotions in segments where Thai producers already have sufficient capacity, except for joint ventures with at least 40 percent Thai equity, while enforcing strict compliance on labor and machinery conditions and revoking privileges for non-compliance. 5. Address raw-material costs through government-to-government (G2G) negotiations on upstream quotas and prices to ensure a level playing field, and control exports of valuable metal scrap. 6. Strengthen rules-of-origin verification by requiring certificates of origin to trace back at least to Tier-3 raw-material suppliers to prevent tariff evasion. 7. Accelerate technology transfer with verifiable metrics and open interfaces for Thai software developers to participate. 8. Upgrade testing and safety standards, supporting validation suited to Thai driving conditions and raising benchmarks for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and domestic test facilities.
EVAT pledged to work with the public and private sectors to turn these proposals into concrete policy, aiming to protect Thailand's automotive production base while building long-term competitiveness for local operators and the supply chain.
