Electric Vehicles in Thailand

[Pib]

4 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yes, you are right, my bad 😞 

No sweat.  For a minute I thought to myself if any of these are a BEV or PHEV I was going to run to the  nearest MG dealership and see if any are left.  But even as ICEV I bet all the discounted display models were been booked/sold within hours with that healthy price reduction.  Cheers.

[KhunLA]

Local MG having an advert blitz, as saw 3 consecutive signs in a row, on utility poles during my morning loop.

 

The 3 fore mention price drops adorning the utility poles, and on a not so well traveled road, though a mandatory u-turn for many, so good placement.  Along with low speed on that stretch, see easily noticed.

 

Haven't gone in town yet, and surely some more about 👍

[Andrew Dwyer]

58 minutes ago, Pib said:

No sweat.  For a minute I thought to myself if any of these are a BEV or PHEV I was going to run to the  nearest MG dealership and see if any are left.  But even as ICEV I bet all the discounted display models were been booked/sold within hours with that healthy price reduction.  Cheers.

I imagined that it was the PHEV version even though I knew they had an ICE version too but had forgotten.

 

I bought my current car , a HEV, as an ex display model and saved 154k , I thought that was good but 360k ( or 320k on the minor updated version) for the Turbo X is a great deal for anyone in the market.

[Pib]

Update on the red Atto I'm been trying to buy.  The wife and I talked face-to-face with the dealership manager and our salesperson this morning.....took a look at the red Atto that had become available...it will be ready for pickup the afternoon of 25 Oct/Wed.  Will go get the cashiers check cut 24 Oct.  

 

Also, this morning "before" going to the dealership, the wife and I got to talk to the neighbor on our soi who got a white Atto 4 days ago.  He bought it from the same dealership we are buying our red Atto from...it took him less than a week from booking to delivery of his white Atto.  A white vehicle is quick to get. 

 

We had a good 45 minute talk....he even let us take his Atto for a test drive while we talked more about the car.   He's very happy with it.  He said based on his 4 days of driving it "appears/his early estimate of" the real-world range for him which is predominately "in Bangkok" driving is going to be around 430Km vs the car's pie in the sky 480Km NEDC rating....but he said  again his 430Km estimate is only based on 4 days of driving....he hasn't even had to recharge yet....so more driving needed to get a better estimate.   

 

He also said for a brief period he considered getting a Seal but decided against it due flooded streets that all too often occur...flooding that occurs so fast you simply can't avoid from going thru it....like even in our moobaan which occurred just last night when it rained cats and dogs for 30 minutes....the sois flooded to curb level for about an hour and then subsided. He decided to stick with the Atto SUV due to its higher ground clearance of 175mm vs 120mm for the Seal.  Plus he really preferred a SUV type style due to what he needs in a vehicle...both him and I are on the same wavelength regarding that.

 

We asked him about installation of the free wall charger.  He said the wall charger installer had called him a few days after getting the car to say it would be 1 to 2 weeks to install the charger due to a big queue (lot of BYD's being sold).   At the dealership today the salesperson said she would try to get the installer to call us over the coming days to get a jump on the installation process---but I'm not holding my breath we'll get a call before we actually receive the car.  The dealership also confirmed it would indeed probably take 2 weeks to get the free wall charger installed due to backlog. 

 

So, it looks like the journey to get a red Atto is almost over....it appears to be clear sailing between now and Wed afternoon unless my bank goes bankrupt, the dealership burns down, the Atto is stolen from the dealership, the moon falls on the Earth, etc.   Knock on wood (my head)....hopefully no such events will occur.

 

This Saturday at the dealership here in Bangkok it was VERY busy....many people in the showroom and service center.  We were there for about 1.5 hours and saw two people receive their Seals (one black, one blue) during the little delivery ceremony the dealership does with a big bow on the car....pictures, etc.   And in the dealership garage area where they prep cars for delivery there were around a dozen cars, mostly Atto's and Seals with a few Dolphins, being prepped for delivery over the next few days.  One busy place especially on weekends.

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

One thing I have noticed in recent years on some new cars is that the bonnet/hood protrudes closer to the windscreen ( maybe for aerodynamic reasons ? ) and means that the windscreen wipers cannot be lifted away from the screen when in their “ down “ position as they hit the bonnet. There is usually a mode to stop the wipers in the fully up position and therefore okay to pull away from the screen for changing wiper blades or cleaning the screen etc, my last two cars have this mode.

 

Frequent careless lifting up by the gas station attendant or car wash assistant can damage the painted edge of the bonnet.

 

Reading the Atto 3 FB groups has brought up a connected issue, on 3 or 4 occasions i have seen posters mention that their wipers have been hitting the bonnet under normal operation and causing damage to the painted edge, which then involves a return to the dealer for adjustment and a paint touch up.

 

One to watch out for @Pib 

[Pib]

Will do...thanks @Andrew Dwyer

[Andrew Dwyer]

Any Seal owners who like the white colour but also fancy something black on top occasionally here’s a suggestion for you 😬

 

 

@Bandersnatch ??

[Yellowtail]

Just now, Andrew Dwyer said:

Any Seal owners who like the white colour but also fancy something black on top occasionally here’s a suggestion for you 😬

 

 

@Bandersnatch ??

Looks more like bottom...

[JBChiangRai]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Any Seal owners who like the white colour but also fancy something black on top occasionally here’s a suggestion for you 😬

 

 

@Bandersnatch ??

You can't buy "taste"

 

 

And to be honest, "taste" is in short supply in Thailand, where else would you see pink & blue floor tiles in the same room!

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Any Seal owners who like the white colour but also fancy something black on top occasionally here’s a suggestion for you 😬

 

 

@Bandersnatch ??

Thanks but no thanks. 

[Bandersnatch]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

Update on the red Atto I'm been trying to buy.

Thanks for the update. Your dealer seems very busy, maybe my #3Q won’t take too long. 
 

Looking forward to seeing the BYD sales figures over the next few months.
 

I already have a 7kW wall charger and can share between two cars until I get my second wall box.

[Andrew Dwyer]

30 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

Thanks but no thanks. 

I did see my 1st Seal in the wild today, going north just before Nakhon Sawan there was a transporter with around 5 Dolphins and a white Seal at the back. Just as I was pointing out the Seal to the little lady another white Seal shot past me at quite a pace !!

 The 2nd one looked like a test drive car as it had “ Seal, Drive into the Future” ( or words to that effect ) on the side. Neither were AWD.

Was hoping to see a Seal on the drive up to the outlaws when for a split second I was between two !

[Pib]

19 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

Thanks for the update. Your dealer seems very busy, maybe my #3Q won’t take too long. 
 

Looking forward to seeing the BYD sales figures over the next few months.
 

I already have a 7kW wall charger and can share between two cars until I get my second wall box.

I expect the BYD Dolphin and Atto 3 to lead the pack again by big margins again come Oct  registration stats (belated sales stats).  I expect Seal sales will have very respectable Oct stats but since the Seal was only released in late Sep the Oct stats based "registrations" probably will not show full strength until Nov registration stats.  Probably follow the same ramp-up like the Dolphin which was released in July I think...showed several hundred registrations for Aug....then by Sep the registrations had went thru the roof.  Takes a while for the registration process (belated sales stats) to complete the process.

 

[Bandersnatch]

10 hours ago, Pib said:

I expect the BYD Dolphin and Atto 3 to lead the pack again by big margins again come Oct  registration stats (belated sales stats).  I expect Seal sales will have very respectable Oct stats but since the Seal was only released in late Sep the Oct stats based "registrations" probably will not show full strength until Nov registration stats.  Probably follow the same ramp-up like the Dolphin which was released in July I think...showed several hundred registrations for Aug....then by Sep the registrations had went thru the roof.  Takes a while for the registration process (belated sales stats) to complete the process.

EV sales charts are fascinating.

 

Take the Toyota bZ4X which has been on sale since last year. It sells for ฿1.83m after the Government EV incentive and it has sold only 22 cars this year. 

 

With EVs now representing over 10% of total vehicle sales in Thailand and the top selling Japanese EV brand is ranked 24th it does not look good for legacy manufacturers 

 

"From January to September, Thailand’s total vehicle sales reached 500,942 units, with EVs constituting 10.05% of this figure. This represents a significant shift from the previous year when only 9,729 EVs were sold in Thailand. The year-to-date 2023 sales surpass last year’s figures by over five times"

https://carnewschina.com/2023/10/07/byds-ev-sales-in-thailand-reached-a-new-high-in-september-2023/

 

 

 

[JBChiangRai]

Is Thailand only getting the Black interior?

 

My brother in law ordered one in Australia with a blue interior.

[Andrew Dwyer]

46 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Is Thailand only getting the Black interior?

 

My brother in law ordered one in Australia with a blue interior.

Yes, only the black colour interior here.

Also Australia has an additional exterior colour, a more traditional shade of grey.

https://bydautomotive.com.au/seal

 

https://www.reverautomotive.com/

 

[JBChiangRai]

4 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yes, only the black colour interior here.

Also Australia has an additional exterior colour, a more traditional shade of grey.

https://bydautomotive.com.au/seal

 

https://www.reverautomotive.com/

 

More colours in the UK, like a camo green and nardo grey.

[Andrew Dwyer]

17 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

More colours in the UK, like a camo green and nardo grey.

Yes, 6 colours in the U.K. and 2 interior choices ( black and blue) but only 2 versions available ( Premium and Performance equivalents ). Think the Dynamic version will be the worst seller imho, almost like they put a lesser version out there for the lower “ starting from “ price then drop that version, like MG did with ZS and HS.

 The green colour is nice, saw a video of the MG X Power in a nice green too, even the Neta V looks better in the mint green.

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

Is Thailand only getting the Black interior?

 

My brother in law ordered one in Australia with a blue interior.

 

 

 

 

So you can order a blue interior in Australia but it costs more and defers your delivery.
 

Black interiors are free and will be ready sooner 

[JBChiangRai]

27 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

 

 

 

So you can order a blue interior in Australia but it costs more and defers your delivery.
 

Black interiors are free and will be ready sooner 

He went for premium in Arctic Blue with Blue Interior 

[Bandersnatch]

Tesla model 3 RHD in Malaysia is only ฿1,444,000 with white color free.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bandersnatch]

Teslas new Highland Model 3 still has the old panel gap problems. Even on this launch show car! 
 

 

But not so on the BYD Seal

 

 

[JAS21]

https://www.drive.com.au/reviews/2024-mg-4-review/
 

Someone might find this interesting ….

[Melpomene]

17 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

Tesla model 3 RHD in Malaysia is only ฿1,444,000 with white color free.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally got round to popping into the Tesla showroom at the weekend.  I was very impressed, particularly with the size of the Model Y, the boot was enormous so from a practical point of view it would be great.  The build quality felt really good as well, I've seen plenty of people questioning this online, but to me the interior definitely felt like a step up from the BYD, and that's not disrespecting the BYD cars which I love, but it just had really nice feel to it.  I've seen people saying it's like Apple vs Android, and I can see where they are coming from with that.  

 

The lack of service centres & super chargers and the higher insurance costs in Thailand are a major issue, but it's certainly been added to my list of possibles.

 

I don't think I've seen anyone on this discussion who owns one in Thailand, but if there is it would be good to get some first hand views of living with one in Thailand. 

[macahoom]

Was passing the BYD showroom this morning so stopped to have a look at my car.

 

I am a little disappointed with the colour. It's the blue one. It's really quite different compared to the pictures I've seen online. It's sorta 50% grey and 50% blue. Quite dull; not the bright blue I was expecting. Maybe it will grow on me.

 

While in the dealership I counted 6 other Seals, all Performance and all black. Mine, the only "blue".

 

None of the 7 cars have been prepared for handover. 

 

I didn't know today is a holiday so there was no one there I could talk to about when my car will be ready.

[Yellowtail]

7 minutes ago, macahoom said:

Was passing the BYD showroom this morning so stopped to have a look at my car.

 

I am a little disappointed with the colour. It's the blue one. It's really quite different compared to the pictures I've seen online. It's sorta 50% grey and 50% blue. Quite dull; not the bright blue I was expecting. Maybe it will grow on me.

 

While in the dealership I counted 6 other Seals, all Performance and all black. Mine, the only "blue".

 

None of the 7 cars have been prepared for handover. 

 

I didn't know today is a holiday so there was no one there I could talk to about when my car will be ready.

I like the blue

[Pib]

Yea..it's a 3 day weekend.  Today/Monday is King Chulalongkorn Day.

 

You know if you have not accepted the blue Seal you can change colors without loss of deposit. I did such in switching from a white to red Atto....but it added almost a month delay since red is kinda hard to get.

[macahoom]

39 minutes ago, Pib said:

Yea..it's a 3 day weekend.  Today/Monday is King Chulalongkorn Day.

 

You know if you have not accepted the blue Seal you can change colors without loss of deposit. I did such in switching from a white to red Atto....but it added almost a month delay since red is kinda hard to get.

Even though I'm disappointed with the blue, I still prefer it to the black, white and grey.

[Bandersnatch]

7 hours ago, Melpomene said:

I don't think I've seen anyone on this discussion who owns one in Thailand, but if there is it would be good to get some first hand views of living with one in Thailand.

 

I for one was very excited when Tesla announced they were going to be selling EVs in Thailand. I was shocked at the price they chose to sell them at  - nearly 40% more than in other RHD markets like Australia. Tesla has been cutting prices around the world in the run up the the Highland Model 3 launch, but not in Thailand. In 12 months they didn't cut prices once and then only days after the dramatic sales figures for the BYD Seal.

 

As I have posted above. Tesla Charging is available in Korat, Pattaya and BKK. They have been put to shame by MG and BYD that have rolled out showrooms each with DC and AC charging.

 

The sales figures speak for themselves:

 

On 10/21/2023 at 9:05 PM, Pib said:

 

 

 

[Yellowtail]

8 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

I for one was very excited when Tesla announced they were going to be selling EVs in Thailand. I was shocked at the price they chose to sell them at  - nearly 40% more than in other RHD markets like Australia. Tesla has been cutting prices around the world in the run up the the Highland Model 3 launch, but not in Thailand. In 12 months they didn't cut prices once and then only days after the dramatic sales figures for the BYD Seal.

 

As I have posted above. Tesla Charging is available in Korat, Pattaya and BKK. They have been put to shame by MG and BYD that have rolled out showrooms each with DC and AC charging.

 

The sales figures speak for themselves:

 

 

 

Much like comparing the sales of Yaris to S500s