Collaborate with Chinese EV makers or suffer, Thai automotive firm CEO warns
Aapico Hitech CEO Yeap Swee Chuan says Thailand's auto suppliers must partner with Chinese EV makers to survive, as Chinese automakers' global sales share doubled to 25% in 2025, nearly matching Japan's 26%.
Intelligence analysis by Llama
The head of Thailand's largest listed auto parts supplier predicts Chinese EV makers will "win the war" against Japanese-dominated incumbents. With Thai car sales still below half their 2012 peak, he argues the only path to survival is deeper collaboration with Chinese firms that already dominate Southeast Asia's fast-growing EV market.
Imagine the world's car race used to be run mostly by Japanese car companies. Now, fast Chinese electric cars have zoomed up from behind and are almost tying with them. The boss of a big Thai car-parts company is saying: don't fight them, work with them, or you'll lose your job. He's seen Chinese EVs go from "junk" to "very advanced" in just three years.
Analysis
A CEO's Surrender Without Apologies
Yeap Swee Chuan, the 78-year-old founder of Aapico Hitech, has spent three decades building Thailand's largest listed auto parts supplier. His blunt assessment to Nikkei Asia — that Chinese automakers "will win the war for sure" — carries weight precisely because he is not a Chinese-aligned commentator but a veteran Malaysian entrepreneur whose fortune is tied to the established Japanese-anchored supply chain. The article notes that 97% of Aapico's manufacturing still serves non-Chinese customers, down from nearly 100% three years ago. That single statistic captures how quickly the ground has shifted: a long-time Tier 1 supplier to the Japanese ecosystem is now publicly advising his peers to seek joint work with the very firms displacing his main customers.
The Numbers Behind the Disruption
The data Yeap cites underlines the urgency. Chinese automakers' share of global automotive sales doubled over a decade to 25% in 2025, just one percentage point behind Japanese automakers at 26%, according to US research firm Mobility Global. In Thailand specifically, EV penetration jumped from 1% to 23% of car sales in five years, and in Indonesia — until recently Southeast Asia's largest car market — Chinese-made EVs rocketed from zero to 15% of the annual total. IEA figures show global EV sales rose by 3.5 million units for five consecutive years to 2025. Thailand's overall car sales of 621,166 in 2025 marked the first annual increase in three years but remained less than half the 2012 peak of 1.43 million, while production fell from 2.46 million in 2013 to 1.45 million last year. With the sector representing roughly 12% of Thai GDP, the contraction has national economic implications, not just corporate ones.
The Path Forward — and the Exceptions
Yeap envisions a "new type of globalization" in which established giants must adapt while smaller suppliers feed parts to manufacturers worldwide. He expects the global vehicle mix to settle near one-third internal combustion, one-third pure electric, and one-third hybrid. The major short-to-medium-term exception, in his view, is the US, whose protective environment will insulate it from the Chinese surge. Aapico has hedged accordingly: it formed a joint venture with Portugal's Sodecia last year to build a South Carolina plant serving Scout Motors, a Volkswagen subsidiary. Aapico also supplies Vietnam's VinFast, illustrating the supplier's strategy of attaching itself to whichever EV brand is scaling fastest. The Japanese incumbents are already absorbing the shock — Honda announced its first loss since going public in March, citing "intensified competition due to the rapid emergence of newer EV manufacturers," while Toyota's Asia CEO Masahiko Maeda described the Thai sector this month as being "in a moment of crisis."
Key points
- Aapico Hitech CEO Yeap Swee Chuan says Chinese EV makers 'will win the war' and Thai suppliers must collaborate with them to survive
- Chinese automakers' global sales share doubled to 25% in 2025, just one point behind Japan's 26%, per Mobility Global
- Thailand's 2025 car sales of 621,166 remain less than half the 2012 peak; EVs hit 121,962 units, up 8.6% year-on-year
- Honda posted its first loss since going public in March, citing 'intensified competition' from newer EV manufacturers
- Aapico formed a US joint venture with Portugal's Sodecia to supply Scout Motors, while 97% of its output still goes to non-Chinese customers
If Aapico and other Thai suppliers successfully integrate into Chinese EV supply chains, they could capture a share of the fastest-growing segment of global auto manufacturing rather than being stranded with shrinking ICE volumes. The supplier's existing relationships with VinFast and its new Sodecia JV in South Carolina also position it to benefit from a multi-polar global auto industry rather than a single dominant bloc.
Even with collaboration, Thai parts makers face a long squeeze: revenue per EV is typically lower than for ICE vehicles because of simpler drivetrains, and Aapico's overseas operations already account for nearly half of group revenue, signaling how thin the domestic margin for error has become. If domestic Thai demand continues sliding from its 2012 peak and export markets also contract, even well-positioned suppliers may face multi-year earnings pressure.
