"This aspect of the industry is weak, with considerable room for improvement, but we still have time to fix the problems," said Teeraphan Laongsri, after-sales director of Omoda & Jaecoo, reports the Bangkok Post.
The price war among EV producers has driven up sales, but is expected to lose steam as new buyers prioritise after-sales services, including the availability of spare parts and maintenance centres, he said.
"Companies only secured a thin profit margin during the price war. Now everyone is looking at after-sales services as a new approach to lift profit," said Mr Teeraphan.
Omoda & Jaecoo is working to ensure sufficient spare parts to serve growing demand as sales and road accidents increase.
"This year we expect to sell 26,000 cars," said Bill Zhang, vice-president of Omoda & Jaecoo (Thailand), adding that the company wants to find ways to improve services.
He said spare parts volume must be available for at least three months in advance, serving both sold vehicles and those expected to be sold this year.
The company has back orders for more than 3,000 parts and is working to solve the problem, said Mr Zhang.
"We have seen our customers’ comments on social media. They want to know whether we have sufficient parts to serve them," Mr Teeraphan said.
A total of 13 containers of 42,564 parts have been shipped from China, with nine of them received and the remainder scheduled to arrive in Thailand around the middle of this month, he said.
But this still does not ensure that Omoda & Jaecoo can best serve its customers as new car sales keep increasing while existing customers demand more repair and maintenance services, partly driven by a rise in road accidents.
During the pandemic, there were 21,052 accidents in 2020, dipping to 11,138 accidents in 2021. The numbers soared to 55,749 and more than 50,000 in 2024 and 2025, respectively, according to the company.
Mr Teeraphan stressed the need for all EV manufacturers to make significant improvements in after-sales services to maintain the momentum of the EV market growth.
"After-sales are in fact before-sales. Customers will not buy our cars if they lack trust in us," he said.