Chinese EV maker NETA Auto shut down in Singapore less than 3 months after its debut in the city-state. The brand quietly closed its only showroom in Singapore despite its celebrated launch earlier in 2025.
NETA FIZZLES OUT
Back in January, NETA Auto launched its X and AYA models with a bang during the Singapore Motor Show 2025. With both models passing Singapore’s National Electric Vehicle Specialist Safety (NESS) certification, NETA was initially hopeful that Singapore would boost its expansion in Southeast Asia. They reportedly secured 52 pre-orders at launch, however, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) recorded only four registered units so far. Now, NETA’s presence has fizzled and quietly exited out of this key market.
One of Singapore’s news publications, The Business Times, visited NETA’s sole showroom last week and found that it had been shut down without warning. BT reported that they reached out to NETA and its Singapore distributor, Evology Automobile, for comments but have not received any response.
With its Singapore office down, NETA’s next lifeline in Southeast Asia is in Thailand, a key location for its manufacturing and exports. The EV maker managed to secure a credit line of THB 10 billion (AUD 474 million) from Nissan Leasing (Thailand) last March. NETA has since promised that it would resume EV production in Thailand in June 2025, following its efforts to clear its debts with suppliers.
NETA’S CRISIS
NETA Auto is the EV arm of Chinese automaker Hozon New Energy Automobile and is known for their affordable EVs. Unfortunately, the EV maker is facing more drastic problems at home. CarNewsChina reported that NETA sales had decreased 98 per cent on-year last January with a sky-high debt of RMB 10 billion (AUD 2.1 billion). At this point, the company was allegedly at the brink of bankruptcy.
Due to slow sales in China, the company was forced to restructure its internal salary plan and slash employee salaries by 75 per cent. Additionally, NETA shut down its Zhejiang plant last year and dismissed its research and development team. The dismissal of its R&D team follows the brand’s steep financial issues.
Prior to this, NETA faced financial losses of up to RMB 17.2 billion (AUD 3.7 billion) from 2021 to 2024. Employees who left as early as 2023 are still unpaid. Similarly, the company’s suppliers protested at NETA’s Shanghai office, demanding payments for overdue fees. NETA Auto Thailand general manager Sun Baolong, however, claimed that the brand had already settled its debts in China.
Founder Fang Yunzhou announced that NETA will continue to concentrate on overseas markets to achieve profit by 2026. Apart from Singapore, the company is also facing troubles in Malaysia. Malaysia reported only 271 vehicle registrations from the brand in 2024 and 16 from January to February 2025. In contrast, NETA performs higher in Thailand, selling 7,969 vehicles so far.
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