July 4 will be a dual celebration day for BYD. Firstly the new factory in Thailand will be completed, and secondly, the 8 millionth new energy vehicle will roll off the assembly line. This all comes days after production began at BYD’s Uzbekistan factory.

It took BYD 13 years to get to the first million new energy vehicles in 2021. From 7 to 8 million has taken less than 4 months, the 7 millionth was completed on March 25 this year. It is just under 11 months since BYD produced the 5 millionth which came off the assembly line on August 9, 2023.

It is not clear if car number 8 million will be coming off the Thai assembly line, or whether even production will be commencing there on July 4. The Thai plant is the brand’s first wholly-owned overseas plant, the Uzbek plant is a JV. Construction of the factory commenced in March 2023, and it’s situated in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) special zone in Rayong province. This is the same area as the GAC Aion plant set to open later this month.

Once production is ramped up the plant will produce 150,000 cars a year. Initially, cars produced will be to meet the needs of the Thai domestic market but will then extend to neighboring ASEAN countries and beyond. ASEAN consists of ten member states: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand. The factory will likely concentrate on producing right-hand drive models. Completion of the factory comes less than two years after BYD signed a contract in September 2022 with WHA Corporation for land purchase and construction of the plant.

BYD entered the Thai market in 2022 when it started selling the Atto 3 there. Thailand has a target for 30% of all vehicles produced there to be EVs by 2030. A growing number of Chinese companies have chosen to site factories in the country including Great Wall, SAIC, Neta, and the previously mentioned GAC Aion. BYD is also building car plants in Hungary and Brazil.

Sources: Fast Technology, Just Auto,