As Chinese EVs expand in Thailand, BYD and Great Wall Motor are expanding their local plants, bringing changes to a supply chain that has depended on Japanese companies. The bankruptcies of local component suppliers and the impact on employment have also been highlighted.
BYD built its first plant outside China in Rayong province in central Thailand, securing a vast site. To the south, Great Wall Motor bought a former GM plant and began operations, while a vehicle assembly plant that changed from Suzuki of Japan to Ford is also nearby.
These developments are part of the changes seen over the past 5 years, and Thailand's automotive industry is in the midst of a tectonic shift. Japanese companies, which dominated the market for many years, are now in retreat, and the spread of EVs is accelerating the pace of change.
As of 2022, Chinese vehicles' share of the EV market was almost zero, but it swelled to approximately 85% in 2024–25. Japanese companies are facing difficult conditions because of delays in development, and reports have emerged of Subaru and Suzuki closing their plants in Thailand and Nissan and Honda cutting production.
This shift has led to a succession of bankruptcies among local component suppliers that depended on Japanese companies, putting the supply chain itself, which employs approximately 700,000 people, at risk. The government has announced a policy of applying different tax rates to overseas manufacturers' EVs based on local production and the component ratio of imported vehicles.