Toyota, Honda, and Nissan decline the new Eco EV scheme

KUALA LUMPUR: Barely two years have passed since the introduction privileges for manufacturers of green cars. And now the Thai government has contrived a new Eco EV scheme. The new scheme aims at turning the mild hybrid vehicles into affordable Eco EVs alongside eliminating the demerits of the existing scheme.

The country already has separate schemes for EVs and eco cars. Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric fall under the category of EVs while affordable small cars are under eco cars schemes. The incentive that was announced back in March 2017 by Thailand’s Board of Investment (BoI) provides promotional concessions to the makers of green cars including hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and full EVs.

As reported by the Bangkok Post, the director-general of Office of Industrial Economics (OIE), Nattapol Rangsitpol said “Eco EV is aimed at closing any loopholes after the government launched the EV scheme in late March 2017, as the scheme should not be an obstacle to the current eco-car scheme. The OIE has found that the existing EV scheme was ineffective at boosting mass-market production of EVs and localising the manufacture of EV-related vital components.”

What came as a major disappointment for the government is the denial of this proposal by Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. To this, the OIE person said that the companies want to wait for the market mechanism to catch up and expiry of EV excise tax incentives in 2025.

Nattapol also explained that the current EV scheme is a “free and open ticket” for automakers to manufacture any green car and that too in any segment.

The kingdom’s excise department revealed that the Eco EVs might carry a tax rate of 4%, much less compared to the 10-14% of today’s green-cars and at par with hybrids.