Chinese automakers, who have benefited from robust sales of electric vehicles, will be highlighted this week at the Bangkok International Motor Show, highlighting their increasing threat to the Japanese auto titans that have long dominated Thailand’s vehicle industry. Chinese manufacturers, including Xpeng Motors and Geely’s Zeekr, will present their newest electric vehicles (EVs) to Thai consumers at the Bangkok Motor Show, a public exhibition that runs for a week starting on Wednesday.
New Players Enter Thailand’s EV Market, Challenging Established Brands
At a media preview on Monday, the EV upstarts displayed their vehicles and technologies side by side at sleek booths alongside models from industry stalwarts like Toyota Motor, well-known brands in the second-biggest economy in Southeast Asia. Vice President and Head of Emerging Market Mars Chen announced that Zeekr, a company based in Hangzhou, will build ten showrooms and introduce two electric vehicle models in Thailand this year as part of a larger Southeast Asian development. He continued by saying;
“In the premium segment, there’s a lot of room for a new player like us.”
Zeekr will face out against Chinese firms that presently hold the most market share in Thailand for electric vehicles, such as BYD and Great Wall Motor. Elsa Zhang, senior manager for Xpeng’s foreign operations, stated that the Guangzhou-based company, which is exhibiting a flying drone car at its booth, intends to build five showrooms in Thailand this year to provide higher-end EVs. Others, such as the state-owned automaker Changan Automobile, which is aiming for the lower end of the market with a two-door EV that was shown on Monday and costs around 500,000 baht ($13,728). Changan Automobile will begin building EVs at a Thai site in early 2025.
Thailand’s Automotive Industry: Shift Towards Electric Vehicles and Foreign Investments
The largest car manufacturing cluster in Southeast Asia is set to receive around $1.44 billion in investments from Chinese automakers in production facilities. By 2030, Thailand hopes to switch to electric vehicles for over 30% of its yearly car manufacturing. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are expanding into Thailand amid a backdrop of rising domestic rivalry and pricing wars among automakers. A Federation of Thai Industries prediction states that by the end of 2024, the number of battery electric vehicles (EVs) purchased by Thais will have doubled from 73,500 in 2023, or almost 9% of all domestic automobile sales.
According to FTI’s automotive industry spokeswoman Surapong Paisitpattanapong, local EV manufacturing capacity is estimated to exceed 100,000 cars by the end of 2024 as additional facilities, primarily from Chinese automakers, come online. Thailand manufactured 164 battery electric vehicles last year. However, industry giants like Honda Motor Company, Isuzu Motors, and Toyota are all making an effort to hold onto their advantage.
A five-year investment of 150 billion baht ($4.34 billion) is planned by major Japanese automakers in Thailand. As of last week, a Thai government official said that Isuzu intends to utilize Thailand as a production site for its electric D-MAX pickup truck, with intentions to begin exporting the vehicle in 2025.
