Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, September 13 (TMTPOST) – Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD (Build Your Dreams) will be officially entering the Thai market by setting up its first overseas passenger car factory in Thailand.

Last Thursday, BYD Auto Thailand Co. Ltd. inked a deal with WHA Group, Thailand's leading developer of industrial estates, to finalize the land subscription and construction of the plant. WHA Group is holding factories, logistics warehouses, and properties with a total size of 875,000 square meters.

BYD said the plant in Thailand is expected to start operation in 2024, mainly producing right-hand drive vehicles with an annual production capacity of about 150,000 units for the local Thai market as well as neighboring ASEAN countries. In Southeast Asia, the main markets for right-hand drive vehicles are Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Data from ASEAN Automotive Federation shows that in 2021, the total sales of major ASEAN automotive markets were 2.79 million units, up 14% year-on-year, and the total production was 3.54 million units, up 24% year-on-year.

Covering an area of 96 hectares, BYD's Thailand plant is within Thailand's East Economic Corridor (EEC), a 13,300-square-kilometer zone with a focus on high-tech industries such as automotive, electronics, and biotechnology. The preferential policies offered locally include a 5-10 year tax-free period, exemption from import duties on machinery and raw materials for some enterprises, and personal income tax exemption for senior experts and researchers, etc.

BYD has entered Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Brazil, and other countries. In August 2022, the company announced its entry into the Japanese market.

The company's financial report shows that in the first half of 2022, BYD's revenue in overseas regions reached 33.38 billion yuan ($4.94 billion), up 13.4% year-on-year and accounting for 22.2% of total revenue.

In the past two years, the growth rate of BYD's overseas business declined, and in the first half of 2020 and the first half of 2021, the company's overseas revenue growth rate was 39.7% and 32.4% year-on-year, respectively. In addition, the gross margin of BYD's overseas business declined from 6.9% in the full year of 2021 to 2.6% in the first half of 2022.