INTRODUCTION TO NEPAL'S AUTOMOTIVE MARKET

INTRODUCTION TO NEPAL'S AUTOMOTIVE MARKET

RELEASE DATE:2022-08-15 17:18
Brief.In order to protect Nepal's tourism resources, reduce the burden of foreign exchange expenditure, and at the same time give full play to Nepal's abundant hydropower resources as a high-mountain country, the Nepalese government is adopting various methods to encourage and promote the use of electric vehicles and seek the transformation of electric transportation.



INTRODUCTION TO NEPAL
Nepal, a country with a population comparable to Malaysia and similar in size to Liaoning Province, is located at the southern foot of the Himalayas, bordered by China's Tibetan Plateau to the north and surrounded by India to the southeast and west.

NEPAL'S AUTOMOTIVE MARKET
The only national car brand, HULAS (micro pick-ups and jeeps), has a diesel engine from China. Almost every international car brand in the world is available in Nepal", says the secretary general of the Nepal Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), but the country is also known worldwide for its expensive cars. This includes customs duty, excise duty, VAT, roads, etc., resulting in one car in Nepal costing almost as much as three cars in China.

In terms of brands, there is a huge disparity between the rich and the poor in Nepal and a wide range of consumption levels. A wide range of car brands are available in Nepal, but there are very few high-end cars on the market, followed by mid-range cars and mostly low-range cars. The most common mid-range and high-end cars are the Japanese Toyota and Nissan, and the Korean Kia and Hyundai.

Indian-made cars have long dominated a significant part of the Nepali market, especially in the lower and mid-range segments, with Tata vans and small cars being the main varieties. At present, the two largest automobile groups in Nepal are the South Korean Hyundai Group and India's largest automobile group - Tata Group.
In terms of demand, Nepal relies mostly on road transport, which accounts for more than 80% of all trips, so the Nepali car market is growing rapidly despite the huge tariffs imposed on Nepali cars. Meanwhile, Nepalis are open to new knowledge and ideas, have more advanced consumer attitudes, and are willing to pay for automotive features.

In terms of vehicle types, due to Nepal's poor transport infrastructure, the roads in the valley are often long and narrow, and the local population prefers to buy two-wheelers and small, low-end, inexpensive vehicles to meet local demand for short-haul micro-transportation, which is also more suitable for the rough roads in the valley.

   

NEPAL'S GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO TRANSFORM ELECTRIC MOBILITY
Nepal does not produce oil and the government spends a large amount of its annual budget on importing oil, and the government has said that the over-reliance on fossil fuels for public transport and private vehicles not only places a huge burden on the government's finances, but also has many negative effects on the local population due to pollutant emissions.

According to data published by Numbeo, the world's leading data site, Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, has the fifth highest pollution index in the world. In fact, Nepal is the closest country to paradise, a 'holy land' for mountaineers worldwide, and has a rich cultural and religious heritage with many fine classical buildings for Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims, and tourism accounts for approximately 29% of the country's gross national product. Air pollution has had a strong impact on the local climate and human landscape, and will certainly threaten the country's mainstay industries.

The development of an electric vehicle industry is therefore an 'urgent' priority to protect Nepal's tourism resources, reduce the burden of foreign exchange spending and take advantage of the country's abundant hydropower resources as an alpine country. In 2018, President Oli proposed a National Action Plan for Electric Mobility, with the goal of reducing dependence on oil imports by more than 50% by 2050.

Currently, Nepal's electricity sector has built 52 charging stations in different parts of the country to encourage the electrification of transport. Currently, the retail price of petrol and diesel vehicles in Nepal is 261% higher than the cost, while electric private cars are only subject to 10% excise duty, 13% VAT and 10% customs duty, and are exempt from road tax, compared to Rs 30-50,000 per year for oil vehicles, making Nepal the only country in the world with such a huge relative tax difference. Nepal is the only country in the world where the relative tax differentials are so large, and is a good indication of the government's commitment to the electrification transition. transition to electrification.

In the face of the opportunities brought by the Nepalese government's new energy vehicle development strategy, many car companies have also jumped at the chance to enter the Nepalese market. In October of the same year, Fujian New Longma signed an order for 100 electric micro-trucks and micro-vanes with SEV Group in Nepal.

Although there are some actions, but at present our domestic cars in Nepal accounted for a small share, relying on China's electric car manufacturing advantages, as well as the convenience of the Zhangmu port, and even the future opening of the China-Nepal railway, these will give China's auto industry exports to provide great convenience and lower transport costs, it can be seen that China's auto industry exports to Nepal and assembly cooperation still has a lot of room for further access to the local market.

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NEPAL HOMOLOGATION PLEASE CONTACT
Shaun
Shaun Xie
Vehicle Homologation Project Engineer
in ATIC, he is the professional driver & racer and type approval testing engineer
Phone: +86 020-82510156
Mail: cs@atic-cn.com