On June 21st, during a regular press briefing by the State Council, Xin Guobin, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that they support Chinese companies going abroad to invest and establish factories, bringing our advanced technology and products overseas and allowing people from more countries to enjoy the benefits of technological progress.
Following the clear statements from regulatory authorities, several companies, including Aiways, SAIC, and BYD, have announced their plans to invest in and establish factories overseas, with a focus on the new energy vehicle industry and its related supply chains.
Accelerating the Pace of Overseas Factory Establishments
The first automaker to announce its overseas factory plans recently is Aiways. On June 28th, Aiways officially entered the Thai market, marking the beginning of its internationalization journey. As part of their plans, Aiways will establish its Southeast Asian headquarters in Thailand later this year. The company also revealed that they are preparing for localized production of their vehicles in Thailand.
On July 4th, SAIC Group announced during a communication meeting on overseas business that they are currently planning to establish a complete vehicle manufacturing plant in Europe. This move aims to promote better business development in overseas markets, including Europe. According to SAIC Group, they aim to seize the "going global" golden window of opportunity, leverage their advantages in the full industry chain, rapidly penetrate the international market, fill the gap in overseas demand for mass-market new energy vehicles, and empower overseas sales.
The latest company to announce its overseas factory plans is BYD, and they have already established clear plans.
On July 4th, BYD and the government of Bahia State in Brazil jointly announced that they will establish a large-scale production base complex consisting of three factories in the city of Camacari. The total investment will reach 3 billion Brazilian reals (approximately 4.5 billion Chinese yuan), further promoting BYD's globalization process.
The BYD Brazil production base complex will consist of three factories: one focusing on the production of electric buses and truck chassis, one for the production of new energy passenger vehicles, and one dedicated to processing lithium iron phosphate battery materials. The passenger vehicle production line will cover both pure electric and plug-in hybrid models, with a planned annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The battery material processing factory will fully utilize local port resources to meet the growing global demand for new energy products. The BYD Brazil production base complex is scheduled to start production in the second half of 2024.
Prior to this, BYD and NIO's joint venture in Thailand had already started construction.
The BYD Thailand base plans to have an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles, covering the entire ASEAN market. Construction of the factory began in March of this year, with a land area of nearly one million square meters, and mass production is expected to be achieved next year.
In March of this year, NIO's intelligent automotive ecosystem and smart factory also started construction in Bangkok. Once completed, the factory will have an annual production capacity of 20,000 vehicles and will include three main facilities: the body workshop, paint workshop, and assembly workshop.
