China's Great Wall targets 50% growth in Thai sales this year

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China's Great Wall targets 50% growth in Thai sales this year
Local EV production to start in 2024 as automaker bets big on expanding market


Great Wall Motor's Ora Good Cat is the top-selling electric vehicle in Thailand. (Photo by Yohei Muramatsu)
YOHEI MURAMATSU, Nikkei staff writerFebruary 11, 2023 02:23 JST

BANGKOK -- China's Great Wall Motor aims to increase sales in Thailand by 50% this year over 2022, the privately owned automaker said on Friday, while also planning to launch local production of electric vehicles in 2024.

GWM sold 11,616 units in Thailand during 2022, more than triple the previous year's tally, for a market share of 1.4%. The company targets sales of 18,000 vehicles in 2023, with plans to introduce five new EV and hybrid models in the country.

More than one-third of the units sold in 2022 were of GWM's Good Cat, a compact electric vehicle under the Ora brand. The Ora Good Cat was the leading EV in Thailand by new registrations last year, with a 39% share, according to local automotive media.

The Good Cat is marketed in other countries as the Hao Mao and the Funky Cat. Sales of the car were suspended in Thailand due to production delays, but the company will resume accepting reservations. It aims to sell 5,000 units here in 2023.

Thailand has provided subsidies and tax incentives for the car on the condition that it be produced locally in the future. Good Cats currently are imported from China.

GWM plans to invest a total of 22.6 billion baht ($675 million) to renovate a plant in Rayong, an eastern Thai province, that it acquired from General Motors in 2020. The company already has invested 12 billion baht. Production of the Good Cat is slated to begin at the facility in the January-March quarter of 2024.

The automaker uses Thailand as a production base for Southeast Asia, exporting vehicles from there to neighboring countries.

GWM also intends to begin sales in Thailand this year of a coupe-type EV called the Ora Grand Cat, also known as the Lightning Cat in some markets.

"Thai people have a keen interest in EVs, and we predict that the market size in 2023 will expand [50%] from last year," Narong Sritalayon, managing director of Great Wall Motors Thailand, said at a news conference.