Chinese EV Demand Rose Up, Opening In SE Asia Market

Right now, the electric vehicle (EV) market is showing some record-high sales numbers despite worries of a slowing demand in 2025.

According to a recent report from intelligence firm Rho Motion, manufacturers sold 1.7 million plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles globally in September 2024, breaking a previous record set in December 2023, according to the research report. "This record-breaking month brings new hope to the industry," Charles Lester, Rho Motion’s data manager, said in a statement. The 1.7 million EVs sold in September represents growth of 30.5 percent year on year.

However, Lester also pointed out to an "astonishing" regional disparities, which showed more 60 percent of September’s sales came from the world’s second-largest economy. Chinese consumers bought 1.1 million EVs for that period.

The firm said that 11.5 million EVs were sold in the first nine months of the year, up 22 percent from the same period a year ago. Chinese buyers purchased 7.2 million EVs over the same period, up 35 percent.

China’s EV makers are now looking overseas for new markets to sustain their sales growth, but international trade policies are making this difficult, further complicating their expansion plans..

The European Union, the U.K., and the four countries in the European Free Trade Association represent the second-largest EV market, after China. But the region is reporting a slowdown in EV adoption, with just 2.2 million vehicles sold in the first nine months of the year, a 4 percent year-on-year drop.

Chinese EV makers now also need to contend with new tariffs that can reach as high as 35 percent, on top of the existing 10 percent import duty. The EU imposed the new trade duties to counter allegedly unfair state subsidies for China’s EV sector.

If the big markets will not be viable, Chinese EV makers are looking at the Southeast Asia as a promising region for their brands. Chinese manufacturers don’t face the same import barriers in markets like Thailand compared with Europe and North America. Chinese brands like BYD are already making inroads into markets like Singapore and Malaysia. BYD has also invested in a factory in Thailand.