Chinese e-vehicle firms looking to enter Asean market

GUANGXI —  Top Chinese electric vehicle (EV) firms are looking to enter the ASEAN market, including the Philippines, to speed up the region’s transition toward cleaner energy.

The Asian superpower has established the China-ASEAN Electric Vehicle Production Base in its southern city of Guigang in Guangxi region, as it is looking to find solutions with Southeast Asian countries to expand cooperation and provide more EV solutions to their local markets.

“Our industrial park was built with an aim to serve the ASEAN countries as Guangxi is a permanent area for the ASEAN expo,” Lin Shaohua, deputy director of the Gangbei District in Guigang City, said.

The China-ASEAN Electric Vehicle Production base is home to six of the top 10 EV brands in China, as well as other lesser-known brands.

The park, strategically located in Guigang, borders Vietnam to its south and has produced over five million EVs since it was established in 2015.

“Now the main domestic market for us is the southern and western part of China, but we hold the goal to expand to ASEAN countries,” Lin added.

Mo Wenhua, deputy chief of the Guigang National Ecological Industrial Park, said that they are organizing more exhibits to promote and cater to the ASEAN market.

She noted that the production base has already exported to several ASEAN member countries, including Singapore, Laos and Indonesia, over 20,000 EVs.

The Asian Development Bank in March noted that the Philippines has a huge potential as a market and manufacturing hub for EVs like its Southeast Asian neighbors.

This comes at a time when interest in EVs in the Philippines is still lagging behind its neighbors in the region.

The Deloitte 2023 Global Automotive Consumer Study released in May showed that 72 percent of Filipinos still prefer to buy gas or diesel vehicles for their next purchase.

Still, this is a 10 percent drop in Filipino respondents who are interested in internal combustion engines compared to 2022.

Singaporeans led the ASEAN market in interest in EVs, with 62 percent saying they would prefer an EV for their next vehicle purchase.

President Marcos issued Executive Order 12 that temporarily lifted the most favored nation tariff rates on most electric vehicles and provided for other incentives to help grow the EV industry in the country.