Hyundai's 100 Million Thai Baht Investment in Thailand for EV Assembly

TapTechNews August 8th news, the Board of Investment of Thailand announced the approval of Hyundai Motor's investment project worth 1 billion Thai baht (TapTechNews note: currently about 201 million Chinese yuan). Hyundai Motor will establish an assembly plant in Chonburi Province near Bangkok and start assembling pure electric vehicles and batteries locally from 2026.

Earlier this year, Thailand released a new electric vehicle subsidy policy, namely the Electric Vehicle 3.5 Plan, which will be implemented for four years from 2024 to 2027, and the subsidies and related regulations are as follows:

For pure electric passenger cars with a price not exceeding $58,000 and a battery capacity of not less than 50 kWh, each vehicle is subsidized by $1,450 to $2,900. For models with a battery capacity less than 50 kWh, each vehicle is subsidized by $580 to $1,450.

For pure electric pickup trucks with a price not exceeding $58,000 and a battery capacity of not less than 50 kWh, each vehicle is subsidized by $1,450 to $2,900.

For pure electric motorcycles with a price not exceeding $4,350 and a battery capacity of not less than 3 kWh, each vehicle is subsidized by $145 to $290.

For pure electric passenger cars with a price not exceeding $200,000, the consumption tax is reduced from 8% to 2%.

Thailand has also released manufacturing-related regulations. For example, the government has reduced the import tariff of pure electric passenger cars priced below $58,000 to 40% for completely built-up units (CBU) imported from 2024 to 2025. By 2026, electric vehicle manufacturers must commit to producing at least two electric vehicles in Thailand.