Asia Consumer Blast: Bangkok Auto Showdown. When flood hits — Toyota has the service network, BYD brings the lifeboat

Bernstein visited Bangkok and found Chinese EV brands ubiquitous, reflecting their rapid gains in Thailand's auto market. As EV adoption accelerated (BEV penetration rose from about 1% of vehicle sales in 2022 to about 20% in 2025), Chinese OEMs captured a disproportionate share, with their market share rising from below 5% in 2022 to 21% in 2025, mainly at the expense of Japanese brands. BYD leads with an 8% share, followed by SAIC (mainly MG) at 4% and Great Wall at 3%. However, Japanese incumbents, particularly Toyota, remain hard to displace thanks to their entrenched dealership, service network, spare-parts logistics, financing and customer-relationship moat. Following recent flooding, Toyota quickly rolled out discounts of up to 30% on repair and bodywork parts and 50% on selected floor-mat and soundproofing parts through year-end, two days earlier than BYD dealer Rever Automotive, whose program ran only through October 31. Alternatively, BYD's Yangwang U8, with its emergency flo