Tax on some imported EVs raised

Taylan Özgür Dil-ISTANBUL

An additional 10 percent customs duty has been imposed on electric vehicles that are imported from countries with which Türkiye does not have customs union and free trade agreements.

The respective presidential decree was published in the Official Gazette and came into force.

The prices of EVs imported from countries such as China, Japan, the U.S., India, Canada and Vietnam, will increase as a result of the additional tax.

Accordingly, the customs duty imposed on EVs imported from China and Japan was raised to 20 percent.

The prices of those vehicles which are subject to the additional tax will push up prices by at least 10 percent, people from the industry said, noting that this will also apply to Tesla’s Model 3, which is being produced at its Shanghai plant and is expected to be introduced to the Turkish market soon.

Several new EV models, mostly from China and Japan, will start to be sold in Türkiye at the end of this year and in 2023, and the latest move on additional tax will impact those models’ competitiveness in the local market, the people said.

They noted that low-cost Chinese EVs have been dominating the markets for years and the additional tax may affect their attractiveness. This, however, may work to domestically produced EV Togg’s advantage in the long run, they said.

TOGG is expected to hit the roads in March next year.

“Customers’ appetite for the EVs imported from the Asian country will diminish in the medium-term as a result of the hike in the tax and those Asian EV companies may channel their cars to Europe, where demand is strong for EVs. They may lose their interest in the Turkish market,” said Kağan Dağtekin, CEO of Doğan Trend Otomotiv, which distributes Chinese electric vehicle MG.

EV sales in Türkiye may reach around 4,500 units, Berkan Bayram from the Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Association (TEHAD) predicted recently.

In the first six months of 2022, the number of registered electric vehicles increased by 170 percent from a year ago to 2,413. In the whole of 2021, 2,846 electric vehicles were sold in Türkiye.