In early July, electric vehicle giant BYD held a completion ceremony for its factory located in Rayong Province, Thailand. This facility marks the company's first electric vehicle production base in Southeast Asia. Additionally, BYD's 8 millionth new energy vehicle worldwide was produced at the newly completed Thailand factory, highlighting its significant milestone.

In terms of the Southeast Asia region, Thailand is a major automobile producer, predominantly dominated by Japanese brands (as shown in the figure). The completion of BYD's new factory marks just the beginning of China's automotive industry's expansion into Thailand. With a planned annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles and considering Thailand's total automobile production of 1.84 million vehicles in 2023, BYD could capture approximately 8% of the market share, assuming full capacity utilization and no additional factory expansions.

However, based on BYD's sales of 30,000 vehicles in Thailand in 2023, if all were locally produced, the initial market share would be between 1.5% and 2%. This does not account for exports to other Southeast Asian countries from production in Thailand. Looking at the trend, Thailand launched the four-year EV3.5 program in 2024, which aims to expand local production of new energy vehicles by reducing consumption tax. This policy is highly favorable for BYD, which already holds a leading position in the new energy vehicle market, accelerating its expansion of production share in the region.

In terms of production capacity, BYD is unlikely to immediately disrupt the existing ecosystem established by Japanese brands. However, due to BYD's ability and potential for rapid expansion, it is crucial for supply chain manufacturers to not overlook the impending competitive shifts that could occur in Thailand and even Southeast Asia over the next few years.