Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are keen to become members of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) to help drive the fledging EV industry in Thailand.
The FTI is in talks with Chinese car manufacturers and hopes to reach a conclusion soon, said Surapong Paisitpatanapong, vice-chairman of the FTI and spokesman for the FTI’s Automotive Industry Club.
“Most EV makers from China, including companies that already announced investment plans in Thailand as well as newcomers, are displaying an interest in becoming members of the Automotive Industry Club,” he said.
Automakers from Japan, Europe and the US are current members of the club and play an important role in driving the industry in Thailand, said Mr Surapong.
The inclusion of Chinese companies means the country’s car manufacturing capacity, which is officially recorded by the club, would increase by 100,000 cars a year, he said.
The club maintained its forecast for total car production at 1.95 million units this year despite a drop in output in April.
Last year, car manufacturing output totalled 1.88 million units.
The number of cars produced in April this year decreased by 0.13% year-on-year to 117,636 units, attributed to the long Songkran holiday and a decline in domestic sales, especially for pickups.
From January to April, car manufacturing increased by 4.61% year-on-year to 625,423 units.
In the EV segment, more new vehicles from three categories — battery EVs (BEVs), hybrid EVs (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) — appeared on the country’s roads during April.
New registrations for BEVs in April skyrocketed by 321% year-on-year to 5,181 cars, according to the club, citing statistics from the Department of Land Transport.
During the first four months of this year, 26,233 BEVs were registered, a year-on-year increase of 534%.
New registrations of HEVs in April grew at a lower rate than BEVs, gaining 31.6% year-on-year to 6,198 cars, according to the department.
From January to April, total HEV registrations rose by 40.9% year-on-year to 30,634 cars.
New PHEV registrations in April increased by 6.33% year-on-year to 784 units.
During the first four months of the year, total PHEV registrations increased by 9.6% year-on-year to 4,172 cars.
