Thai consumer protection authorities are investigating BYD dealers after a consumer complaint about aggressive discounting by the Chinese electric vehicle maker that left some buyers upset about how much they paid for their cars.
The investigation was triggered after a BYD customer alleged that a sales representative said the price of a car the customer was buying would rise after a discount campaign ended, but instead the dealership later cut the price further.
BYD executives in Thailand and its sole distributor Rever Automotive, which has a network of over 100 dealerships, did not immediately respond to Reuters emails seeking comment.
“We have called the dealers to come in this week to clarify why they cut prices further and how they plan to find a solution for customers,” said Passakorn Thapmongkol, a senior official at the Office of the Consumer Protection Board.
On a BYD owners’ group on Facebook, other Thai customers shared similar complaints.
“The salesperson said that prices would increase after the motor show, but in the end, it was really reduced,” Facebook user Thanasit Chai said in a post on Wednesday, referring to the Bangkok International Motor Show held in March.
Thailand is the largest overseas market for the world’s biggest EV manufacturer. BYD commanded a 46% share of the Thai EV market in the first quarter and is the third-largest player in passenger cars overall with share of about 9%, according to the research firm Counterpoint.
Other EV rivals in the market include Great Wall Motor and Tesla.
BYD is scheduled to open its first EV production facility in Southeast Asia in Rayong province on Thursday. It plans to invest around $490 million in the facility to produce 150,000 cars per year.
Shenzhen-headquartered BYD currently sells four models in Thailand priced between 699,999 and 1.59 million baht, according to the Rever website.
Led by BYD and VinFast of Vietnam, EV sales in Southeast Asia have more than doubled since last year at the expense of Japanese and Korean makers of traditional combustion-engine models.
