The facility will initially supply the domestic and ASEAN markets, eventually expanding as Chery's global export hub, according to Qi Jie, the company's vice-managing director for South Asia.

With ambitions to also ship vehicles to Oceania and the Middle East, the plant will ramp up from an initial output of 50,000 units in 2025 to 80,000 units by 2028. Qi notes that battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will represent 70% of production, with the rest being plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

Qi praises Thailand's potential in the EV sector, encouraged by government incentives such as the EV3.5 scheme offering subsidies and tax reductions to boost EV adoption from 2024 to 2027. This follows the initial EV3.0 program which focused on EV promotion through 2022 and 2023.

Omoda & Jaecoo is preparing to finalize their investment in Thailand by April, which will cover land acquisition, factory construction, and EV charger development.

The company aims to sell 6,000 units of the Omoda EV5 and Jaecoo7 this year and plans to establish 35 showrooms, with 20 in Bangkok. Additionally, partnerships are being explored for expanding EV charging infrastructure.