MG Thailand Gets New 120K SQM Production Facility - Coming to Malaysia Soon?

SAIC Motor-CP and MG Sales (Thailand), manufacturers and distributors of MG cars in Thailand, had a groundbreaking ceremony for the NEW ENERGY INDUSTRIAL PARK in Thailand, which would span more than 120,000sqm and house factories and development areas for automotive parts. Part of the support would be with regard to battery development and manufacturing to support the production of electric vehicles.

This initial phase one setup would come at an estimated investment cost of more than 500 million Baht (RM67 million) and would place the group as the pioneering leaders in the electric vehicle segment in Thailand.

The facility, located at WHA Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate 2, Chonburi Province, would house a 700,000sqm with a production capacity of up to 100,000 cars per year. Of the space, over 480,000sqm would be used for general assembly, paint zone, and the fully automated robotic production plant.

Furthermore, there would be about 220,000sqm allocated for future production development, especially with regards to electric vehicles and the development of battery module parts. This facility, which is purpose-built for MG cars, would also serve as a new container yard and logistics warehouse to increase efficiency and reduce production and distribution transportation costs.

According to Mr. Zhao Feng, the Managing Director of SAIC Motor-CP Co. Ltd., "under the ONE BELT, ONE ROAD strategy from China, the main goal is to build strategic economic development cooperation between China and other countries, which, in this case, is the development of Thailand's main industrial areas in the Eastern Economic Corridor (Eastern Economic Corridor). MG, as a pioneer and leader in electric vehicles in Thailand, has responded to the country's economic development concept under the BCG model, or economic model for sustainable development, which is a new economic theory that contributed to the development of Thailand’s bio-economy, circular economy, and green economy, which have been on the national agenda from 2021 to 2026."

With this development in right hand drive MG production, we are pretty certain that the next logical step would be for MG and GAIC to have their presence in the other ASEAN countries, especially here in Malaysia, where the vehicle importation policies have been extensively relaxed for EVs in view of having 1.5 million EVs on the road by 2040.

The NEW ENERGY INDUSTRIAL PARK construction would be divided into 3 phases, with the first phase expected to be completed and ready by October 2023.