Thailand's Cabinet Approves Excise Tax Hike on Imported Complete EVs to 35%

On November 3, Thailand's Ministry of Finance announced that the Cabinet has approved raising the excise tax rate on fully imported electric vehicles (EVs) from 10% to 35%, an increase of 25 percentage points, with the new rate set to take effect on January 1, 2027. Under the plan, the tax will apply to EVs imported as complete vehicles that do not use locally produced parts from Thailand. The new tax regime is divided into three tiers based on the degree of localization: models built in Thailand with a high proportion of local parts will enjoy the lowest rate; assembled models that have submitted production plans and partially rely on imported parts will fall into the middle tier; and fully imported models with no local production plans will be subject to the highest rate of 35%. Thailand's Ministry of Finance illustrated with an example: an imported EV priced at 1 million baht (about 200,000 yuan), taxed at 10%, would incur a tax of 100,000 baht. Once the rate rises to 35%, the vehicle price will increase by at least 250,000 baht (about 50,000 yuan). Under the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, import tariffs on some EVs have already been reduced to zero. Thailand is using the excise tax to adjust the tax burden gap between imported and locally produced vehicles, and is skewing the local content calculation standards toward components such as electric motors and batteries. Locally produced EVs are not affected by the 35% import tax. Currently, BYD's Rayong plant has begun production, Changan Automobile's first overseas new energy manufacturing base has settled in Thailand, and brands such as Chery and GAC Aion are also pursuing localized operations.