Running errands in Bangkok yesterday I spotted a Honda e on the highway, cute little thing. If only Honda made the car locally you would see much more on the roads.

Currently, the Honda e is only available through grey market importers, the cars are imported from Japan usually in top-spec form, with the rich as the target market, who else would pay Baht 2,690,000 net for a little car, that price is double the retail price in Japan. Like I said you would need to be rich, and own other cars, because these imports don’t come with a garage full of spare parts, therefore if a new windscreen, or body part is needed, you can expect to wait a couple of months.

Thailand has a pretty out-of-this-world tax on imports, and even though the Honda e is an environmental friendly fully electric car, there is no tax breaks. Take for example the 1500cc Suzuki Jimmy, also another import from Japan costs a whopping Baht 1,890,000! Actually Suzuki Motors Thailand had advisted the Jimny at one motorshow and were taking orders, and the 90 to 100 jeeps were sold in now time, even though the price was a steep baht 1.3 million. I am not sure why Suzuki Thailand stopped importing them even though there is a market for these vehicles. Rumor has it they are working on a 5 door version, if that is true, I am positive Suzuki will either import or produce them locally in Thailand.

But back to ridiculous taxes, an e-bike is subject to a 70% import duty in Thailand, and don’t forget to add VAT as well. So I won’t be getting an e-bike soon, unfortunately.