One thing I noticed after several visits to Thailand over the past month was how much the vehicle landscape has changed.

When I was living in Thailand from 2014 to 2022, the roads were dominated by brands such as Toyota Motor Corporation, Honda, and Nissan Motor Corporation. Today, many taxis and ride-hailing vehicles are Chinese EVs.

That observation led me to think about how differently EV adoption has developed across countries.

In Thailand, local manufacturing has helped accelerate the adoption of Chinese EVs. In Vietnam, the market is largely led by the domestic manufacturer VinFast. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, where there is no local Chinese EV manufacturing, people are still more likely to choose Japanese or Korean brands.

It reminded me that technology adoption is often shaped by more than consumer preference alone. Manufacturing capability, investment and the wider business environment all play an important role in determining how quickly markets evolve.

Sometimes, paying attention to everyday observations offers a useful perspective on much broader economic and industrial changes.