GAC Aion New Energy Automobile (GAC Aion), a subsidiary of Chinese state owned automaker GAC Group, has opened a new electric vehicle (EV) assembly plant in Thailand as it stepped up expansion into south east Asia.
The plant, in the Amata City industrial estate in Rayong province, is the company’s first overseas vehicle production facility and managed by local subsidiary Aion Automobile Manufacturing (Thailand).
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The opening came less than a year after the company launched sales of its Aion Y Plus battery powered car in the country in August 2023.
The facility was built with initial capacity for 50,000 vehicles per year to supply EVs starting with the second-generation Aion V, the Aion Y Plus and Hyper HT, to markets in the region. Capacity will be expanded to 100,000 later in the decade in line with demand.
Thai industry minister Pimphattra Wichaikul, speaking at the plant’s opening ceremony, said the automaker had invested THB2.3bn in the facility so far, supporting the government’s target for EVs to account for around 30% of total vehicle output in the country by 2030, forecast to reach 2.5m units by then.
The Thai government had previously stated it had attracted total EV sector investments of US$1.44bn so far, mostly from Chinese automakers which are driving the country’s switch to zero emission vehicles.
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By GlobalDataEarlier this month, BYD Auto opened a new vehicle assembly plant in the same automaking province.
GAC Group chairman Zeng Qinghong said: “We will support Thailand’s EV production and promote Thailand as an EV industry centre in southeast Asia.”
Ma Haiyang, managing director GAC Aion Southeast Asia, added: “We are using a strategy to produce quickly in small amounts using AI (artificial intelligence) to reduce waste and minimise costs”.
He said the plant would introduce new models every year for markets in the region.
GAC Aion is already in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore and launched sales of its Aion Y Plus in Indonesia earlier this this month.
