Is There Any Car Made in Bangladesh? The Real Story Behind Local Automotive Production

There are no mass-produced cars made in Bangladesh that you can buy off a showroom floor. Not one. Not even a single model rolled out by a domestic automaker for public sale. If you see a car with a Bangladeshi license plate, it’s almost certainly imported-either used from Japan, Europe, or brand new from India, China, or Thailand. The idea of a car made in Bangladesh sounds promising, especially with the country’s growing economy and industrial push. But reality doesn’t match the dream.

Why No Bangladeshi Car Exists Yet

Bangladesh has over 170 million people. It’s one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia. It makes textiles, pharmaceuticals, and electronics. So why not cars?

The answer lies in infrastructure, investment, and scale. Building a car isn’t like assembling a smartphone. It requires a full supply chain: steel mills, rubber plants, glass factories, precision tooling, and thousands of specialized parts. Each component must meet strict safety and emissions standards. No Bangladeshi company has built that ecosystem from the ground up.

Compare it to India. Tata Motors and Mahindra produce millions of vehicles annually. They’ve spent decades developing local suppliers, testing designs, and scaling production. Bangladesh hasn’t even reached the starting line.

What About Local Assembly or Knock-Down Kits?

You might hear about companies like Bashundhara Motors is a major automotive distributor in Bangladesh that assembles vehicles from imported knock-down kits. Or ACI Motors is a company that assembles Chinese-made vehicles like Chery and JAC under license. These aren’t manufacturers-they’re assemblers.

Knock-down kits mean parts are shipped from China or India, then put together in a local factory. The engine, transmission, electronics, and even the body panels are made overseas. The Bangladeshi factory just bolts them together. That’s not manufacturing. It’s final assembly, like putting together IKEA furniture with imported pieces.

Even then, these operations are small. Bashundhara assembles maybe 5,000 vehicles a year. That’s less than what Toyota produces in a single day in Thailand. There’s no local R&D, no proprietary design, no unique technology. Just rebranding.

Has Anyone Tried to Build a Real Bangladeshi Car?

Yes. And they failed.

In 2017, a startup called Shimanto Motors is a Bangladeshi automotive startup that unveiled a prototype electric vehicle called the Shimanto EV showed off a prototype electric car. It had a 100 km range, a simple body, and looked like a cross between a golf cart and a microcar. They claimed it was "100% made in Bangladesh." But when you looked closer, the battery came from China, the motor from Taiwan, the software from India, and the chassis was sourced from a Chinese supplier.

They never got past the prototype. No funding. No certification. No factory. No supply chain. The car never went on sale. It’s now sitting in a garage in Dhaka.

Another attempt came from a group of engineering students at BUET. They built a small electric vehicle for a competition. It worked. It was impressive. But again-no path to production. No investors. No government support. The project died after the exhibition.

What’s Holding Bangladesh Back?

Three big things: capital, policy, and market size.

Capital: Setting up a car plant costs $1 billion minimum. That’s not pocket change. Bangladesh’s biggest companies-Bashundhara, ACI, Square-make money in real estate, telecom, and FMCG. They don’t risk billions on a car factory that might not sell 10,000 units a year.

Policy: The government talks about "Make in Bangladesh," but there’s no auto policy. No tax breaks for local parts. No R&D grants. No safety standards tailored for local conditions. Meanwhile, India offers 10% production-linked incentives. Vietnam gives land at low rates. Bangladesh offers nothing.

Market size: Even if a car was made locally, who would buy it? The average monthly income in Bangladesh is around $150. A new car costs $15,000-$25,000. That’s 100 months of salary. No one can afford it. Used imports from Japan are cheaper, reliable, and widely available. Why pay double for a local car that’s unproven?

Could It Happen in the Future?

Possibly. But not soon.

If Bangladesh wants a real car industry, it needs to start small and smart. Forget sedans. Start with electric rickshaws-something already popular. Bangladesh has over 4 million e-rickshaws on the road. That’s a market. If local factories could make the batteries, motors, and frames for those, they’d gain experience. Then move to small electric vans for delivery. Then maybe a low-cost electric city car.

China did this. India did this. Thailand did this. They didn’t start with luxury SUVs. They started with what people actually needed and could afford.

There’s also a chance that foreign companies set up factories here. Hyundai, Toyota, or BYD could build a plant in Bangladesh to serve South Asia. But that’s not a Bangladeshi car. That’s a foreign brand making cars in Bangladesh. The difference matters.

What’s the Real Impact of Imported Cars?

Bangladesh imports over 100,000 vehicles a year. Most are used. The government collects billions in taxes from these imports. But there’s a cost. Older cars pollute more. Spare parts are hard to find. Mechanics struggle with newer models.

Local assembly helps a little. It creates jobs-assembly line workers, warehouse staff, sales teams. But it doesn’t build engineering skills. It doesn’t create patents. It doesn’t make Bangladesh a car-making nation.

Without a shift toward true manufacturing, Bangladesh will keep importing cars-and the money will keep leaving the country.

What Can Bangladesh Learn From Other Countries?

Look at Indonesia. In the 1970s, they had no car industry. Today, they make over 1 million vehicles a year-mostly for Toyota and Mitsubishi. How? They started with strict rules: if you want to sell cars here, you must use 30% local parts. Then 50%. Then 70%. They forced foreign companies to train local engineers, buy from local suppliers, and invest in factories.

Bangladesh could do the same. Require that any car sold here must have at least 20% local content by 2030. Offer tax breaks to companies that build parts locally. Fund technical training in automotive engineering.

It’s not about being the first. It’s about being the smartest.

Final Reality Check

There is no car made in Bangladesh. Not today. Not yet. And unless the country makes a serious, long-term investment in engineering, supply chains, and policy, there won’t be one for another decade-if ever.

What you see on the roads are imports. What you hear about are assembly plants. What you read online are dreams.

The dream isn’t dead. But it’s sleeping. And it needs more than slogans. It needs steel, sweat, and strategy.