Kyrgyzstan’s BARS Electric Vehicle Plant Opening Delayed

Kyrgyzstan’s BARS electric vehicle assembly plant has missed its planned September opening, with production now expected to begin in late 2026 or spring 2027. In August, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce reported that construction was 75% complete and the plant would begin production by the end of September. However, speaking to residents of Tash-Kumyr and Kara-Kul on October 23, President Sadyr Japarov said the factory might not open until March or April 2027. The plant, covering a 15-hectare site, is designed to produce up to 10,000 vehicles annually, including passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and special-purpose vehicles. Production will initially rely on imported components, with plans to manufacture more parts locally later. The facility could employ around 100 people. According to the ministry, the project is privately financed, while the government has provided the land. The vehicles are intended for domestic sale and export to other Central Asian countries and markets in the Eurasian Economic Union. Japarov’s announcement came during a discussion about replacing city buses that had been in service for 20 to 30 years. He said Kyrgyzstan would develop a program to gradually replace older gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles with electric ones, including government vehicles, over the next 15 to 20 years. At the beginning of 2026, Kyrgyzstan had 15,278 registered electric vehicles, accounting for 0.8% of its 1.91 million vehicles. By September 1, the number had risen to 30,221, according to figures provided by the country’s vehicle registration authorities. The BARS plant’s planned annual production capacity is equivalent to roughly one-third of that total. Since 2020, Kyrgyzstan has encouraged electric vehicle imports through customs incentives. In 2025, the duty-free import quota was 10,000 vehicles. For 2026, an initial allocation of 15,000 vehicles was increased to 25,000 in August. The quota was exhausted by the end of September. Imports of electric vehicles subsequently became subject to a customs duty of 15% of their customs value, while the value-added tax exemption for eligible electric vehicles less than five years old remained in place. The number of vehicles imported under the quota cannot be directly compared with the number of registered vehicles. The quota also covers certain hybrids, and customs figures do not establish how many imported vehicles ultimately remain in Kyrgyzstan. In September, the State Customs Service identified five electric vehicles that had been transferred to Russian citizens without payment of the required duties and charges. These cases do not provide sufficient evidence to assess the scale of re-exports.