Mercedes-Benz has committed to manufacturing electric vehicles in Thailand after signing an agreement to import its battery-powered cars — part of a government plan to bolster the Southeast Asian nation’s status as a clean carmaking hub.
The luxury carmaker will receive a slew of benefits, including lower import duties and excise taxes for each fully electric car brought into the country by its Thai unit in 2023, Ekniti Nitithanprapas, DG of Thailand’s excise department, said on Friday.
The agreement also binds Mercedes to making electric cars in Thailand, probably at its plant in Samut Prakan province, though Ekniti didn’t say which models or when production may start. Mercedes’ facility has to date been used to assemble combustion engine cars and recently started producing EV batteries.
At a local motor show last week, Mercedes displayed a fully electric EQS 500, which Roland Folger, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Thailand, said was “the first local production made outside Germany”. Folger didn’t elaborate on the model’s production timeline.
Mercedes is the latest global brand to enter Thailand’s electric passenger car market — an area where new Chinese entrants are challenging legacy Japanese and European carmakers. Earlier this week, Tesla opened bookings for two of its EV models, which should be available by the first quarter of next year.
Chinese carmaking giant BYD has started selling its first electric SUVs in Thailand and said in September it has signed a land-purchase deal to build its first EV plant in Southeast Asia.
Thailand has a comprehensive automotive supply chain that feeds scores of factories owned by many of the world’s largest carmakers, including Toyota, Ford and Honda. The government has said it wants 30% of car sales to be electric by 2030 and earlier this year allocated about 43bn baht (R20.72bn) until 2025 to achieve that goal.
The government has paid out 81m baht (R40.22m) in subsidies for the about 540 electric cars purchased in Thailand so far, according to Ekniti.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
Mercedes-Benz commits to making electric vehicles in Thailand
Image: Bloomberg
Mercedes-Benz has committed to manufacturing electric vehicles in Thailand after signing an agreement to import its battery-powered cars — part of a government plan to bolster the Southeast Asian nation’s status as a clean carmaking hub.
The luxury carmaker will receive a slew of benefits, including lower import duties and excise taxes for each fully electric car brought into the country by its Thai unit in 2023, Ekniti Nitithanprapas, DG of Thailand’s excise department, said on Friday.
The agreement also binds Mercedes to making electric cars in Thailand, probably at its plant in Samut Prakan province, though Ekniti didn’t say which models or when production may start. Mercedes’ facility has to date been used to assemble combustion engine cars and recently started producing EV batteries.
At a local motor show last week, Mercedes displayed a fully electric EQS 500, which Roland Folger, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Thailand, said was “the first local production made outside Germany”. Folger didn’t elaborate on the model’s production timeline.
Mercedes is the latest global brand to enter Thailand’s electric passenger car market — an area where new Chinese entrants are challenging legacy Japanese and European carmakers. Earlier this week, Tesla opened bookings for two of its EV models, which should be available by the first quarter of next year.
Chinese carmaking giant BYD has started selling its first electric SUVs in Thailand and said in September it has signed a land-purchase deal to build its first EV plant in Southeast Asia.
Thailand has a comprehensive automotive supply chain that feeds scores of factories owned by many of the world’s largest carmakers, including Toyota, Ford and Honda. The government has said it wants 30% of car sales to be electric by 2030 and earlier this year allocated about 43bn baht (R20.72bn) until 2025 to achieve that goal.
The government has paid out 81m baht (R40.22m) in subsidies for the about 540 electric cars purchased in Thailand so far, according to Ekniti.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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