China’s BYD opens EV factory in Thailand, first in Southeast Asia

China's BYD opens EV factory in Thailand, first in Southeast Asia
China's BYD opens EV factory in Thailand, first in Southeast Asia

The service, announced two years ago, is for US$ 490 million and will have a manufacturing capability of 150, 000 vehicles per month, including plug- in hybrids.

Around 10,000 people will work at the sprawling shop in eastern Thailand’s Rayong area, some of whom were seen using equipment on Thursday as BYD’s Dolphin type moved through an assembly line.

” We will even arrange batteries and other important elements below”, said Liu Xueliang, BYD’s Asia Pacific general supervisor.

According to research firm Opposition, Thailand is the third-largest person in passenger cars and commanded a 46 % share of the nation’s EV section in the first quarter.

Tesla and Great Wall Motor, both of which have production facilities in Thailand, are another regional electric vehicle competitors.

But, BYD dealers in Thailand are currently under investigation as a result of a consumer complaint about violent discounting that has caused some customers to be offended by how much they paid for their vehicles.

BYD overtook Tesla in the third quarter of 2023 to become the country’s leading retailer of electric cars.

Tesla reclaimed the top position in the first quarter of this year, but BYD is optimistic about expanding, stating last month that it would continue building a following shop in the EU.

China is the world’s leader in electronic vehicles, with an estimated one-third of all vehicles on its streets set to become energy by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency’s monthly World EV Outlook.

The Chinese automaker reported a record annual profit of 30 billion yuan ( US$ 4.1 billion ) last year, but it reported lower-than-expected revenue for the first quarter of 2024 in April.

BYD has been in a terrible price war in China, where a remarkable 129 EV models are outshitting each other, with only 20 of them, per Bloomberg, achieving a local market share of 1 % or more.