Yokohama, Japan-based automaker Isuzu Motors plans to spend ¥1 trillion (240 billion baht) to fuel its investments through 2030, with part of the budget allocated for battery cell and electric pickup manufacturing in Thailand, which will serve as the company's electric vehicle (EV) export base.
The battery cell and electric pickup production forms part of a 32-billion-baht investment budget allocated for Thailand. A portion of the funds will support projects aiming to achieve carbon neutrality as well as digital transformation in the logistics sector.
"We are considering how much we will spend for a battery cell factory and EV assembly. We are also deciding on battery cell production capacity," said Takashi Oodaira, executive vice-president of the carbon neutral strategy and engineering divisions at Isuzu Motors.
The company has yet to decide where it will build its battery production facility but has already chosen the Samrong area of Samut Prakan province as the location for the construction of a plant to assemble D-Max electric pickups.
It wants to export battery-powered pickups to countries in Europe in 2025. Australia would be the next country where it plans to market its EVs for export.
Thailand is already a major manufacturing base for internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered vehicles, producing 1.8-1.9 million cars per year. This is the highest number of ICE-powered vehicles produced within Asean.
Thailand is the world's 10th largest manufacturer of ICE-powered cars.
Last year, 786,383 pickups were exported from Thailand, accounting for 70% of all car exports.
According to Takashi Hata, president of Tri Petch Isuzu, the local distributor of Isuzu vehicles, Isuzu joined the state's EV3.0 incentive scheme, which was launched by the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration to promote EV production and consumption between 2022 and 2023.
EV3.0, which is made up of tax cuts and subsidies, requires participating companies to produce electric vehicles in Thailand starting from 2024.
Isuzu Motors is also developing hydrogen fuel for trucks and working on a project regarding vehicles that align with carbon neutrality campaigns.