<
https://thedriven.io/2026/07/29/global-ev-leaders-domestic-laggards-what-china-and-thailand-tell-australia-about-its-future-car-market/>
"Australia no longer makes cars, but it is still shaped by the countries that
do. That matters more than ever as the global car industry is reordered by
electrification.
The clearest lesson from the data is that the future winners are not being
decided first in export markets. They are being decided at home, in the
domestic markets where manufacturers learn how to build, sell and improve
electric vehicles at scale.
China is the clearest example. Its carbon-peaking action plan sets a target for
new energy vehicles to make up 30% of the entire national vehicle fleet by
2030, not just 30% of annual sales. By the end of June 2026, China already had
48.97 million NEVs on the road, equal to 13.2% of its total fleet.
That domestic momentum is feeding directly into export strength – and it has
just passed a milestone. In June 2026 China exported more than one million
vehicles in a single month for the first time, up 75% year on year, and 523,000
of them were new energy vehicles – the first month in which NEVs were the
majority of China’s vehicle exports.
Beijing is confident enough in that trajectory to now be winding support back
rather than propping it up, scrapping vehicle tax breaks for plug-in hybrids
and electric commercial vehicles from 2027.
Thailand is following a similar path on a smaller but highly relevant scale for
Australia. Chinese brands have rapidly captured the Thai EV market, and
Thailand has revised its EV incentives to encourage exports as well as local
sales.
The policy change matters because Thailand is one of Australia’s most important
vehicle suppliers. If Thailand’s factories electrify quickly, Australia will
get more EVs, sooner and at more competitive prices. If Thailand stayed locked
into petrol and diesel, Australia would feel that drag in its own market — or
(a warning for Thailand) simply buy an even greater share of electric vehicles
from China."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
