Highlights:

• Deputy Prime Minister Paudel to Inaugurate NADA Auto Show 2025

• Nepal to Set Up First Automobile Manufacturing Plant in Simara

• Business-Friendly Budget Fuels Confidence in Auto Industry

• NADA Calls for Policy Stability, Incentives for Local Manufacturing

• EV Adoption, Local Assembly and Tax Reform Take Centre Stage

Deputy PM Greenlights NADA Auto Show 2025

Nepal’s most significant automotive event, the 17th NADA Auto Show, will return from August 19 to 24, 2025 (Bhadra 3–8) at Bhrikuti Mandap, Kathmandu. And it’s kicking off with a political jolt—Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has accepted the invite to open the show as chief guest, following a formal request by a NADA delegation.

Not just a ribbon-cutting affair, this move signals government endorsement of Nepal’s auto revival—after years of policy drift and sluggish imports.

Nepal’s First Car Plant Set for Simara

Here’s the real kicker: Nepal is finally gearing up to build its first car manufacturing facility, and Simara is where the action starts.

NADA Vice President Rajan Babu Shrestha used the high-level meeting to pitch the factory as a national priority. His demands were blunt and spot on:

• Stable long-term policies

• Fiscal incentives for domestic manufacturing

• Regulatory clarity to attract foreign and local investors

For a country long reliant on imports, this plant is a shot at industrial self-reliance—and a long-overdue one.

Business-Friendly Budget Brings Hope

NADA President Karan Chaudhary didn’t mince words either. After years of regulatory stumbles and fiscal chokeholds, he praised the new budget as pro-business, especially for the private sector and auto trade.

Highlights include:

• Revised duty structures

• Eased EV import policies

• Infrastructure spend on charging stations and roads

The finance ministry seems to have finally grasped what the industry’s been shouting: If you want growth, cut the brakes.

EVs & Clean Tech Now Have a Platform

With EV adoption climbing, Nepal is uniquely placed. It has plenty of hydropower and a growing interest in clean mobility, but still lacks the backbone—assembly lines, service ecosystems, and enough policy to keep investor interest alive.

Expect the 2025 NADA Auto Show to double down on:

• Electric test zones

• Talks on local battery production

• Showcases of new-gen EVs and mobility tech

This Is Not Just a Trade Show—It’s a Policy Stage

This year’s show is shaping up to be more than a product expo. With government officials, financiers, and auto bosses in the same room, it’s now a de facto policy stage.

There’s real potential here to:

• Cement auto manufacturing into national industrial strategy

• Turn vehicle importers into assemblers

• Push Nepal toward a cleaner, self-built automotive future

The Delegation: Who Made the Case?

The push came from a heavyweight delegation, including:

• Karan Chaudhary, President

• Rajan Babu Shrestha, Vice President

• Surendra Kumar Upreti, General Secretary

• Bikram Singhania, Secretary

• Milan Babu Malla, Treasurer

• Pankaj Agrawal, Co-Treasurer

• Surendra Pradhan, Secretary

Their message was united: Give us policy, we’ll give you progress.

Verdict: Watch This Space

What we’re seeing here is Nepal finally shifting gears. If the Simara plant goes ahead—and if policies hold steady—we might just witness the birth of a local auto industry in a country that, until now, just bought cars from abroad.

2025 could be the year Nepal’s car scene stops importing ambition and starts engineering it at home.