BMW plans to spend THB400m (US$13m) to produce batteries for plug in hybrid vehicles in Thailand, starting next year.
This followed BMW's arch-rival, Daimler's Mercedes-Benz, announcement last week of plans to produce lithium ion battery packs for electric and plug in hybrid vehicles in Thailand, as the company anticipates strong demand growth for these vehicles across the region in the next few years. Mercedes Benz Manufacturing Thailand applied for board of investment tax privileges in January and expected to become the first company to produce electric vehicle batteries in the country.
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The Munich based automaker's local subsidiary, BMW Group Manufacturing Thailand, has allocated 5,000 square metres within within its 45,000 sq m plant in the Amata City Industrial Estate in Rayong to house battery production.
Like Mercedes, BMW has already applied for Board of Investment (BoI) privileges including tax breaks for the investment.
The company already assembles several plug in hybrid models at the plant and is currently in talks with local suppliers to increase local content.
BMW Group Thailand president Stefan Teuchert said he expected plug ins to account for 20-25% of local sales this year after volume almost tripled to 1,300 units in 2017 – or 13% of total sales.
The company said Thai sales of BMW and Mini passenger vehicles increased 39% to just over 11,000 units last year while motorcycle sales rose 10% to 2,000 units.
