Chery receives incentive to build Thai plant

The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) has incentivised the Chinese state-owned automotive brand Chery Automobile to build a new EV manufacturing plant in Rayong Province.

The Bangkok Post reports that Chery Automobile declined to reveal details of its investment in the new Rayong EV plant, which its Omoda and Jaecoo brands will operate.

The BOI approved the incentives to Chery Automobile on April 2. It has so far allocated more than 80 billion Thai Bhat (3bn NZD) to 26 electrified projects from 19 companies.

Other Chinese EV manufacturers investing in Thailand include BYD, Great Wall Motor, MG Motor, Changan Automobile, GAC Aion, Neta and Foton.

Chery Automobile previously announced that the Rayong factory would produce cars for Thailand and become the export base for the ASEAN, Oceania, and Middle East markets.

The initial plant capacity is 50,000 units, of which 70% will be the Omoda E5 BEV, and 30% will be the Jaecoo 7 plug-in hybrid SUV. This will grow to 80,000 units by 2028.