Sales Of Lesu, Neta Pangkas 400 Workers In Thailand

Neta V launched in Thailand. (Doc. Neta Auto)

JAKARTA - Bad news came from China's automotive manufacturer, Neta. The brand under the auspices of Horon Auto lays off workers in Thailand as part of a restructuring plan after local sales decreased by more than 45 percent.

Reported by The Nation Thailand, Friday, December 27, the company plans to lay off 400 jobs in the land of white elephants.

Shanghai-based Horon Auto is reportedly experiencing a liquidity problem caused by a decline in sales, forcing it to stop production at the Zhejiang plant and reduce employment.

In Thailand, the manufacturer, which was founded in 2014, used the Bangchan General Assembly factory to produce Neta electric vehicles.

One source said that 400 people were dismissed or fired including employees from Neta Auto and Bangchan General Assembly who worked at the Min Buri district factory, Bangkok, Thailand.

Neta reported a 45.8 percent decline in year-on-year sales in the January to November 2024 period by sending 6,534 units consisting of Neta V, Neta V-II, and Neta X models.

It also extended a bad trend for Neta in the Southeast Asian market after one of its products, Neta V earned zero stars after going through strict protocol from ASEAN NCAP 2021-2025.

The car, which is also sold in Indonesia, reached a total score of 28.55 points at an assessment of 7.89 points for the Adult Income Protection (AOP) category, 13.51 points for Child Occupant Protection (COP), 7.14 points for Safety Assist (SA) and 0.00 points for the Motorcycle Driver Safety category (MS).

In addition, this hatchback made the performance disappointing as it gained zero points for frontal offset test with drivers receiving poor protection on the head, neck, chest, and lower right leg. In the side impact of testing, the model only got 6.31 points from 8.00 points with a dimmy received on-chest protection margin.

The car model, which has also been marketed in Thailand to Malaysia, comes with two airbags, a driver-specific Seatbelt Reminder System (SBR), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) as standard. The model experienced an offset test frontal accident and side-collision tests in the AOP category.

New EV hatchbacks do not offer Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) for City and InterUrban, Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Lane Keep Assist (LKA) and Lane Departure Warning (LDW). In addition, all technologies assessed by ASEAN NCAP based on MS categories such as Blind Spot Technology (BST), Auto High Beam (AHB) and Pedestrian Protection (PP) are not available in this model.