Up until last year, the availability of EV options in Australia had been limited to the likes of Tesla and well established car makers. With the successful launch of newer EV-focused brands such as BYD and Polestar, the tide has started to shift.
Now there is news of more EV makers potentially setting up right-hand-drive manufacturing plants to produce electric cars destined for markets like Australia.
One of these is GAC Aion, which is an EV subsidiary of GAC Group that is looking at setting up a manufacturing plant in Thailand, according to the latest announcement by the company that was shared by cnevpost.
GAC Aion has signed a memorandum of cooperation with a large Thai dealership group. This will be the first step for the electrified brand to start its international expansion.
As part of this agreement, GAC will set up a head office for Southeast Asian operations in Thailand and intends to begin local production of models it plans to offer in Thailand.
This is interesting because Thailand is another right-hand-drive market like Australia. Many of the most popular ICE models sold in Australia are currently built in Thailand, including Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux.
As per data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) for May 2023, Thailand-made vehicles accounted for almost 20% of all vehicles sold in Australia during the month.Ā
With such large proportions of Thai-built cars already making it on our roads each month, right-hand-drive EVs manufactured in Thailand will be well received as they would fill the gap of a lack of options that are faced at certain price points in the market.
Itās currently unclear if GAC Aion is planning on exporting Thai-built electric cars to other markets but it does make sense from an international expansion perspective.
In recent times, the brand has on average been selling over 40,000 EVs per month, putting it in second place to BYD.
The brand has plans to produce and sell over 500,000 EVs in 2023 and launch in multiple new international markets according to a spokesperson from the company.
GAC Aion will join other EV makers who have recently set up operations in the growing Thai market, including Neta and BYD.Ā
BYD, which currently is the second best-selling EV brand in Australia, has also been building a right-hand-drive factory in the country which is expected to be producing EVs by 2024. The construction of this factory began earlier this year with an output of 150,000 right-hand-drive EVs when up and running.
These are positive signs for Australian EV uptake as we are hopeful to see more right-hand-drive EV options entering the Australian market in the coming years.
RizĀ is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.