This new Thai plant is slated to have the capacity in churning out 150,000 BYD EVs annually.
In its latest big step at attempting to dominate the Thai market, BYD has recently teased that it aims to already be churning out cars in its up-and-coming plant in Thailand by the third quarter of this year.
Once up and running, this gargantuan 960,000 square meter plant of BYD’s in Thailand is expected to build 150,000 EVs a year. The automaker proudly touts for this particular investment will create a significant number of jobs while bringing advanced EV manufacturing tech to the region, not to mention assist in the Thai government’s goal of having 30% of vehicles manufactured in the country to be electric.
BYD’s auto production ambitions in Thailand is but one of many regions the Chinese automaker aims to lay down manufacturing roots, with it also preparing new facilities in Hungary and Brazil as it expands the brand overseas. There has also been reports regarding potential manufacturing hubs in Vietnam and Indonesia, not to mention the long-standing possibility of local-assembly plans right here in Malaysia too.
Rather amazingly enough, this first car plant of BYD’s in Thailand only begun breaking ground last March, but construction is expected to already wrap up in the next few months. What more is that if the spy shots within the factory are to be true, it would appear that the Chinese automaker has already begun trial production for its Atto 3 on site already.
And speaking of the Atto 3, this particular e-SUV was the automaker’s top-selling model over there, with the 19,200 units accounting for the 30,000 cars BYD sold in Thailand last year. Incidentally too, Thailand actually is the Chinese marque’s largest overseas market, accounting for a whopping 20% of its foreign sales in the third quarter of 2023 at least.
Given this therefore, it should not come as that big of a surprise for BYD to have gone all out with a giant pavilion at the recent Bangkok Motor Show, where it showcased its entire lineup of brands under its corporate umbrella overseas for the first time. These brands included BYD, Yang Wang, Fang Cheng Bao and Denza.
Similarly, it should not be too shocking not to learn that earlier this year, BYD has requested for its local distributors in Thailand to triple its dealerships in the kingdom to around 300 nationwide within the next two years, in order to cement its dominant sales performance over there. The Chinese automaker currently offers the Atto 3, Dolphin and Seal in the kingdom, with rumours of it to be bringing in its Uber-luxurious Denza D9 to the market in due course too.
