Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are showing off their latest models, including a flying car, as they compete with global rivals at the Bangkok International Motor Show. Companies like BYD, XPeng and Great Wall Motors are increasing their sales in Thailand, giving established market leaders like Toyota, Isuzu and Ford a run for their money as they expand exports worldwide. Thailand, one of Southeast Asia's largest markets with over 600 million people, has prioritised the development of its EV market.
Tesla began selling cars there at the end of 2022, offering its popular
Model 3 and Model Y at prices designed to compete with rivals like China's BYD. BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, showcased a wide range of its EVs, including the Dolphin, a pure EV that it claims can travel 490 kilometres (about 300 miles) on a single charge and costs $23,700. On the pricier side is the Seal, which promises 580 kilometres (about 360 miles) on a charge and comes with a price tag of nearly $44,000. Last year, BYD sold 30,650 EVs in Thailand, followed by Neta, a brand of Chinese electric vehicle maker Hozon Auto, based in eastern China's Zhejiang province, with 12,777 sales. They were followed by Tesla,
British brand MG and Chinese car maker Great Wall Motor. "It's very colourful now. Many brands come in. I think this is very good and it's looking very bright for the whole market of EV cars to be honest," said Pratarnwong Phornprapha, the boss of REVER Group, BYD's partner in Thailand. VinFast from Vietnam also showed off at the event. They want to sell their electric cars in 50 countries by the end of the year. They're making new factories in the U. S.,
India, and Indonesia. Neta, another car company, is going to start making electric cars in
Thailand too. And Great Wall Motor has taken over an old General Motors factory in Rayong to grow in Southeast Asia. Even though only a small bit, 0.5%, of all the world's electric car sales were in Thailand last year, that was almost 60% of all the sales in Southeast Asia! That's more than Vietnam and
Indonesia, says Counterpoint Research. Thailand is already manufactures a lot of cars including pickups which are widely used as taxis, for food stalls, and for taking crops to the market. The streets are full of different cars. You can see Toyotas, Hondas, Isuzus, Fords, Nissans, Mercedes-Benz and top brands like Porsches and Maseratis. "The highlight this year would be that most automakers are joining us here, including Japanese, European and Chinese," said Peeraphong Eamlumnow, who helps run the show, "If you compare to (motor shows in) other countries, in
Japan, most of them would be Japanese brands. In Europe, most of them would be European auto-makers. But Thailand welcomes every country to invest and sell their products," he explained. Thailand is upping the number of electric charge points all over the country, but right now, most cars use petrol, diesel or LPG. XPeng, a start-up based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, is another newcomer to an already overcrowded market back home. But Paramee Thingcharoen, its chief marketing officer, said the company saw plenty of opportunity and was testing the waters. She said: “We target the premium segment, however, in the very high tech products that we have to offer. We’re pretty confident that we have a wide space to enter the market with that positioning, and we’re not quite worried about the competition,” she said. XPeng was displaying its XPeng AeroHT Voyager X2, a flying concept car. The flying car can be flown in
China but was only on display in Bangkok since the company does not have a license to fly it in Thailand, Paramee said. "We believe the future mobility is not limited to only on wheels," she remarked. "It can be a unicorn you can ride on in the future. It's unlimited."