THAILAND REPORT
Chinese automotive equipment manufacturer Suzhou Harmontronics Automation Technology plans to build an electric motorcycle factory in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), eyeing a market set to grow, thanks to government subsidies.
The company plans to invest $281 million (10 billion baht) to secure annual production capacity of 150,000 units by 2028. The plans were revealed by the office of the EEC.
Suzhou Harmontronics will build the factory at an industrial park in Chonburi Province, within the EEC zone, and will assemble electric motorcycles and manufacturing replaceable batteries and charging equipment at the facility. A start date for operations was not disclosed.
Suzhou Harmontronics, founded in 2007, handles production equipment for the automotive industry and does business with major Chinese automakers and parts manufacturers. It is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market for tech startups.
Sales for 2022 rose 51% to $156 million (1.14 billion yuan). Net profit totaled 73.51 million yuan, up 21%.
Electric motorcycles account for a small proportion of new-vehicle sales in Thailand, but the government is striving to expand the market by providing up to 18,000 baht for their purchase as of November.
In August, state-owned oil company PTT said it would produce electric motorcycles with Taiwanese two-wheeler manufacturer Kymco.
The EEC serves as Thailand’s special industrial development zone.
Source: Nikkei Asia
PSR Analysis: As mentioned in the Southeast Asia article above, the adoption of electric motorcycles in Thailand is still in its infancy, but the investment in production facilities with an annual capacity of 150,000 units at this point is extremely large. I think that this investment is not only for production in the Thai market, but also for export to neighboring countries.
There are many cases where there are discrepancies between the investment projects announced in China and the details of the actual projects, so it is necessary to check how these projects will proceed. In any case, it would be natural for China, which currently has the world’s largest EV motorcycle production capacity, to turn its attention to the Southeast Asian motorcycle market, one of the world’s largest markets. In the past, when Chinese OEMs tried to enter the Southeast Asian market with engine models, they were unsuccessful due to major quality issues. I will keep a close eye on how Chinese manufacturers fare in the Thai motorcycle market, which, along with the four-wheeler market, is a stronghold of Japanese OEMs. PSR
Akihiro Komuro is Research Analyst, Far East and Southeast Asia, for Power Systems Research
