BYD has started exporting electric vehicles from Thailand to Europe, with an initial shipment of 959 Dolphin hatchbacks bound for Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, local media reported. The cars are being transported aboard the BYD Zhengzhou, the company’s seventh vehicle carrier, with the voyage to Germany expected to take 35 days, according to Daily News Online.
The automaker’s Thai plant, which opened in 2024 with an annual capacity of 150,000 units, has until now mainly built right-hand-drive versions of the Dolphin for the domestic market and ASEAN countries. Production has expanded to include left-hand-drive models, but output is currently around 5,000 vehicles a month, or 60,000 annually.
The exports also help BYD meet obligations under Thailand’s EV 3.0 incentive scheme. The government requires automakers benefiting from duty exemptions and tax breaks to offset imports with locally manufactured EVs. “Allowing exports to be counted as production offsets is an effective approach,” a BYD executive told Thansettakij. “If we couldn’t export, all units would have to be sold domestically, intensifying competition and distorting the market structure.”
According to The Nation, BYD must offset imports with around 30,000 locally built EVs this year. With four months left before the scheme ends, the company still needs to produce nearly 20,000 units, Thansettakij reported. Exporting vehicles to Europe not only helps BYD meet these quotas but also allows the automaker to bypass special tariffs the EU has imposed on EVs manufactured in China. Other carmakers, including SAIC’s MG, are also exploring the same strategy.
