Japanese car manufacturer, Mitsubishi Motors has halted production in China indefinitely. The announcement came after Mitsubishi said it planed to cut staff following plummeting sales.
The Japanese car manufacturing market is failing to keep pace with China’s rapid electric vehicle (EV) transition.
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The chief executive of Mazda, Masahiro Moro previously warned that heightened competition in the largest global EV market would mean “only the strongest will survive”, according to the Financial Times.
Shortly after taking the top role at Mazda in March 2023, Moro toured China where he reportedly witnessed a transitioning that he claimed would have an impact far into the future, adding that the competition was more severe than expected.
Mitsubishi’s lack of success in China reveals a failure by the Japanese car manufacturing market to keep pace with China’s market in production of electric models, suffering market share loses to Tesla and BYD, Bloomberg reported.
The speed at which Chinese automakers have rolled out production abroad is further threatening Japan’s automobile companies.
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By GlobalDataFor years, Thailand’s market has been dominated by Japan’s automakers. However, a wave of investment by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers committing to invest in Thailand’s production facilities could change that.
The Thai government has backed Chinese firm’s investment with incentives to reach its target of converting 30% of the country’s annual vehicle production into EVs by 2030, according to Reuters.
Vice president Sebastien Dupuy of Thailand’s Siam Motors revealed that the company is in talks with Chinese automakers regarding potential partnerships, specifically aimed at high-end electric vehicles.
BYD, who has already invested in the Thai market, is set to invest $1bn (7.4bn yuan) in electric vehicle (EV) and battery production in India.
