Bloomberg reported in a recent report that countries that show a greater openness towards the entry of Chinese auto companies recorded much higher rates in adopting electric cars compared to their counterparts that impose strict customs standards.
The report – prepared by Colin Macker from the Power Power Research Unit – indicated that electric cars exceeded 50% of sales in the Chinese market, with a noticeable acceleration in the direction of manufacturers towards international markets, which changed the global adoption of electric cars.
A boom in sales in open countries
Brazil recorded a huge leap in electric car sales by more than 500%between 2022 and 2024, while the percentage in Thailand increased by 279%, and in Australia by 145%.
The United Kingdom has now become the major European market with the highest penetration rate of electric cars despite its relatively modest growth.
The report pointed out that the common denominator between these markets is to welcome Chinese brands. In Thailand – for example – electric cars formed 12% of the total sales last year, and Chinese marks occupied the first five ranks.
Australia also canceled customs duties on electric cars imports in 2022, to become the Chinese company “BYD”, the second best -selling brand after “Tesla”, while the company itself opened factories in Brazil along with “GAC”, “Great and Motor”, in response to government plans to re -impose customs taxes between 10 and 35% by mid 206 to pay local investment.
Protection undermines growth
On the other hand, Germany witnessed a 35% decrease in electric car sales during the same period, while the United States has only achieved slight growth.
The agency attributes this to the high customs duties imposed by these countries: more than 100% in America, and up to 45% in the European Union on Chinese cars.
It is noteworthy that the competition imposed by Chinese companies, even in the markets in which there was no significant share after Western companies pushing their offers and launching more serious electrical models.
The report commented by saying, “The companies do not disable their profitable markets by themselves, but rather you need a competitor to do so, and Tesla has played this role for years, but the Chinese are now approaching quickly.”
Draw from the base to the top
The report also highlighted that the pattern of adoption of electric cars is no longer exclusively on the rich countries, but rather began to turn from the phenomenon “from top to bottom” to the phenomenon “from bottom to top”. Today, Thailand is better than the United States in terms of the adoption of electric cars, and Brazil advanced to Japan in this regard.
The report concluded by noting that openness to Chinese companies may be among the best indicators to measure the speed of the spread of electric cars in countries in the coming years.
