TMTPost --  China’s top electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD Co., Ltd., achieved a milestone of overseas expansion in face of tariff threat in the U.S. and Europe.

Credit：BYD

BYD held a ceremony last Thursday to inaugurate its first EV plant in Thailand as well as in Southeast Asia. It took BYD 16 months to complete construction since the Chinese EV maker started building the plant in March, 2023. The plant, located in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) special zone in Rayong province, can produce the whole vehicle with four major processes and parts. The plant is designed to boast an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. It is supposed to serve as a hub for the production and distribution of EVs in Thailand, neighboring ASEAN countries and other regions.

As the Thailand factory opened, BYD became the world's first automaker to achieve the 8 millionth new energy vehicle (NEV) rolling off the production line, and the Dolphin was unveiled as the first BYD model off the production line at the facility. BYD chairman and CEO Wang Chuanfu said that the company has quickly won the recognition in Thailand after it forayed into the market two years ago.

Wang highlighted achievements BYD made in Thailand these years.  BYD has took the sales champion of pure electric vehicles in the country for the 18th straight month in Thailand.Today, one out of every three pure electric vehicles sold in Thailand is under BYD. In the future, BYD will launch more pure electric models in and introduce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), combining Thailand's first-class automobile manufacturing capabilities with BYD's leading new energy technology to help the country's auto industry chain transform and upgrade, according to  Wang. "Thailand has a clear EV vision and is entering a new era of auto manufacturing. We will bring technology from China to Thailand,” Wang said.

BYD announced at the start of this month that it sold 341,658 NEVs, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and PHEVs in June. China’s top NEV maker for the first time broke its monthly sales record this year. With a 35.02% YoY increase and a 2.97% month-over-month (MoM) increase, the sales were 615 vehicles, or 0.18% more than the previous record set last December. June is the fourth month for BYD to return to monthly sales of more than 300,000 units to the year date. With the highest monthly sales volume among Chinese EV makers, BYD maintained double-digit YoY growth since the beginning of the year.

BYD’s NEV sales rose to a new record of 982,747 units for the second quarter, bringing its cumulative sales for the first half of the year to 1.613 million, up 28% YoY. Price cuts and technology update drove the sales higher. BYD released late May its fifth generation DM (dual mode) hybrid technology for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with a comprehensive driving range of 2,100 kilometers. In the meantime, the company rolled out two models powered by the new technology, the Qin L DM-i and the Seal 06 DM-i, which use only a third of the fuel consumed by traditional cars and triple the range. Prices range from RMB99,800 ($14,000) to RMB139,800.

BYD’s exports in the second quarter first topped 100,000 units despite increasing trade tensions. BYD launched the Seal EV, its third EV in Japan last week, starting at ¥5.28 million, or around $33,100. The affordable model Seal is expected to reach South Korea by the end of the year.