Toyota Motor has said its Thai subsidiary is appealing against a Thai government order to pay additional taxes.
Reuters, citing the the Nikkei business daily, said the taxes would total more than THB11bn (US$327m).
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The Thai government has ruled that parts imported from Japan to assemble the Prius petrol-electric hybrid vehicle in Thailand should be treated as complete knock down (CKD) kits with an 80% tariff rate, instead of as auto parts, with a 10% rate, a Toyota spokeswoman told Nikkei.
More than half of the parts used in the locally assembled Prius are imported from Japan, she said. Toyota does not disclose the percentage of parts procured in Thailand.
The additional tax was owed on more than 20,000 Prius vehicles assembled at Toyota’s Gateway factory between 2010 and 2012, the Nikkei reported.
Toyota Motor Thailand also produces petrol and hybrid Camry sedans which were not subject to additional tariffs because the majority of parts are procured locally.
Early this year, Toyota forecast its sales in Thailand in 2015 would rise 0.9% to 330,000 vehicles, following a sharp 27% downturn the prior year due to political turmoil, Reuters noted.
It predicted industry-wide growth in Thailand this year of 4.3%, to 920,000 vehicles. Despite Toyota’s large presence in the market, Thailand is a relatively modest portion of its global sales, which it expects to total 9m vehicles in the current fiscal year that started in April.
