Chery is the 8th Chinese EV company to receive such approval, following in the footsteps of BYD, MG, Great Wall Motor, Changan Automobile, GAC Aion, NETA, and Foton.

The company, which exported 1.8 million units last year, plans to use Thailand as a production base to meet domestic demand for right-hand drive EVs and export to ASEAN, Australia, and the Middle East.

Chery, a Chinese automaker, plans to establish a factory in Rayong province, Thailand by the end of 2025.

The factory will produce 50,000 battery electric vehicles (BEV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) annually in the first phase.

In the second phase, production capacity will be expanded to 80,000 units per year by 2028.

Chery's EV models Omoda and Jaecoo will be marketed in Thailand.

The company will import the Omoda C5, its first 100% SUV EV model, in June 2023.

More off-road EV models, including the Jaecoo 6, 7, and 8 (two plug-in hybrid EVs), will follow.

The investment value was not disclosed.

The BOI (Board of Investment) in Thailand has approved 26 electric vehicle manufacturing and assembly projects from 19 companies, totaling over 80 billion baht in investment.

The BOI is dedicated to turning Thailand into a regional EV manufacturing hub, aiming for zero-emission vehicles to account for 30% of total automotive production by 2030, which equates to 725,000 electric cars and 675,000 electric motorcycles annually.