Seoul [South Korea], September 30 (ANI): Hyundai Motor Co. has not stood nonetheless as China’s aggressive push within the Southeast Asia world electrical automobile (EV) market through a low-margin, high-volume technique is proving to be efficient, in addition to probably the most quick and severe risk within the area, in accordance with a report by Pulse, the English service of Maeil Business Newspaper Korea.
The South Korean automaker acquired approval from Thailand’s Board of Investment for a 1-billion-baht (round $ 31.04 million) undertaking in August 2024 to construct an EV and EV battery manufacturing plant, whereas additionally saying plans to take a position 680 billion received ($485.6 million) over 5 years in Malaysia from 2025 onwards.
With few robust native manufacturers and a tariff-free aggressive panorama, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market is changing into the important thing battleground for automakers from Korea, China, and Japan.
For Hyundai, which has spent years attempting to interrupt into ASEAN – lengthy thought of a ‘troublesome market’ attributable to Japanese automakers’ entrenched dominance – the precedence is now anticipated to shift from competing with Japanese automakers to warding off these from China.
The disruption within the completed automotive market of the six main ASEAN nations stems from EVs. According to knowledge from main Southeast Asian nations and analyses from consulting corporations similar to PwC that have been launched on Monday, Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., the highest automaker within the area, noticed its gross sales within the first half of 2025 decline by 1 per cent from the identical interval a yr earlier. Hyundai Motor, ranked thirteenth total, additionally noticed an 8 per cent drop.
By distinction, Vietnamese EV maker VinFast Auto Ltd. surged by 102 per cent year-on-year throughout the identical interval, leaping 4 spots from eleventh to seventh. China’s BYD Auto Co. likewise soared by 144 per cent, climbing into ninth place.
China’s momentum is particularly hanging in particular person markets. In Indonesia – ASEAN’s largest automotive market with annual gross sales of 300,000 to 400,000 models – BYD grew explosively to 14,092 models within the first half of 2025 from simply 1,596 automobiles in the identical interval a yr earlier. Hyundai, however, which had outpaced BYD with 12,044 models within the first half of 2024, truly noticed damaging development in 2025 with 11,188 models.
Indonesia can be the place Hyundai has invested most closely, establishing its first ASEAN manufacturing plant in 2022 and finishing the HLI Green Power battery cell plant, a three way partnership with LG Energy Solution Ltd., in 2024 to bolster the native EV ecosystem. Chinese automakers similar to Chery Automobile Co. and BYD sharply elevated their gross sales in Malaysia as nicely.
What makes the state of affairs extra urgent is that main Chinese automakers are planning aggressive native funding to increase manufacturing in ASEAN. BYD goals to construct an annual manufacturing capability of 300,000 models in Indonesia and Thailand by 2030. For its half, Chery is planning for 180,000 models in Malaysia and Thailand, whereas Wuling Motors Holdings Ltd. is focusing on 120,000 models in Indonesia.
VinFast can be including amenities in Vietnam and Indonesia able to producing 200,000 models yearly.
All this means it won’t be straightforward for Hyundai to beat China’s aggressive enlargement.
‘The ASEAN market is a race for velocity and localisation,’ an official from the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association (KAMA) famous. ‘Hyundai should pivot extra aggressively by increasing manufacturing bases and strengthening supplier networks.’
However, uncertainty stays about whether or not China’s low-cost EV offensive – powered by fashions geared up with cheaper lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries – can succeed within the medium to long run. Hyundai is thus actively contemplating deploying LFP-based fashions in Southeast Asia, signaling its intention to sharpen competitiveness via localization.
‘We are carefully monitoring the rise of Chinese EVs,’ a Hyundai official mentioned. ‘We may even step up efforts to seize the ASEAN market with a wider vary of fashions at completely different worth factors and differentiated competitiveness.’ (ANI)