Foxconn, the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer, and PTT PLC, Thailand’s national oil provider, has reached a deal to build an electric car manufacturing facility in Thailand. By 2023, the plant is planned to start producing vehicles. Foxconn had previously stated that it would start developing factories in Thailand and the United States next year. In June, Foxconn and PTT inked a memorandum of intent to collaborate on electric vehicle manufacture, with PTT controlling 60% of the joint venture and Foxconn the remaining 40%. The Thailand facility’s initial production capacity will be roughly 50,000 units, which Foxconn claims would triple by 2030.
The Thailand plant establishes Foxconn as a carmaker in its own right, but the company is also working on a U.S. manufacturing plant with EV producer Fisker, which is expected to begin production in 2023. In May, the two corporations inked a cooperation agreement known as Project PEAR. In a statement, Bakar Sadik Agwan, senior automotive analyst at GlobalData, a data and analytics consulting firm, stated, “Thailand is relatively new in terms of supply and demand, with limited manufacturers producing in the country.”
“When compared to other markets, Thailand offers far greater value to Foxconn because of its favorable policies and car manufacturing background. In China, the company has production collaboration with Byton, although it is now on hold. While China has the largest EV market, it is experiencing overcapacity due to the fragmentation of the EV market, which will damage several manufacturers’ ability to earn a profit.” Thailand’s government has become a strong backer of Foxconn in the hopes of becoming a “EV hub” in the future and increasing its EV share in total capacity to 30% by 2030 by incentivizing local manufacture.
In a statement, Bakar Sadik Agwan, senior automotive analyst at GlobalData, a data and analytics firm, said, “Thailand is relatively new to supply and demand with limited manufacturers in the nation.” “When compared to other markets, Thailand delivers far greater value to Foxconn because of its favorable policies and automobile manufacturing tradition. The company also has production collaboration with Byton in China, but it is currently on hold, according to reports. While China may have the world’s largest electric car market, it is experiencing overcapacity as a result of the market’s fragmentation, which will limit many automakers’ ability to produce appropriate margins.
