BYD (HKG:1211), China’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturer, has broken ground on its first passenger car plant in Cambodia, as part of a broader strategy to expand production capacity across Southeast Asia.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the facility—Cambodia’s first NEV production plant—was held on April 28 in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, Chinese state-run media China News Service reported. The event was attended by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wenbin, and Preah Sihanouk Province Governor Mang Sineth.
The plant, with a total investment of $32 million, will cover an area of 12 hectares. The first phase of the project is scheduled to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2025, with an expected annual production capacity of 10,000 vehicles, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
According to The Phnom Penh Post, the facility will operate as a completely knocked down (CKD) assembly plant, assembling imported components into finished vehicles. Construction is slated for completion by October, with production expected to begin in early November.
The Cambodian EV market remains relatively small but is expanding rapidly. Registrations rose sharply to 2,253 units in 2024, up from 313 in 2023—a 620% year-on-year increase, the report said. BYD, Toyota, and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are currently the most popular EV brands in the country.
BYD launched its first sales center in Phnom Penh in 2020 and introduced several NEV models, including the Atto 3, a compact SUV, in August 2022. In July 2024, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said on X that BYD intended to establish a production facility to serve both domestic and export markets.
“The plant is a clear sign of BYD’s commitment to local manufacturing and the Southeast Asian market,” The Phnom Penh Post quoted a company representative as saying.
The Cambodian plant follows BYD’s recent expansion in the region. The automaker opened a factory in Thailand in July 2024, marking its first wholly owned overseas passenger car plant, with a capacity of 150,000 units annually. BYD also plans to complete construction of a $1 billion plant in Indonesia by the end of 2025.