Geely supposedly cancels Thailand EV production plans, to switch its focus to Malaysia – report

At the end of May, a report by Reuters indicated that Geely was planning to enter the Thailand market with electric vehicles (EVs) and was considering models for import and local manufacturing. Unnamed sources told the news agency that the Chinese carmaker was mulling whether to market an entry-level EV as well as a fully electric pick-up truck from its Radar brand, in this case the RD6.

However, the automaker said at that point that it was all hearsay, with a company media representative telling the news agency that “Geely has no such plans,” while declining to provide details about any talks it was having about investments in the country.

Things went quiet following that initial report, but the topic has come back up again, with Headlightmag now reporting that supposed plans by Geely to enter Thailand with a significant investment have been cancelled.

Whether the reported investment plans in Thailand as well as that suggested by the Headlight report has anything more than a palpability to it is uncertain, but what we do know is that Geely is set to invest USD10 billion (RM45.6 billion) to turn Tanjung Malim in Perak into the region’s largest auto city, as revealed by prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last month.

While this investment is expected to centre around the development of Proton-related models, it doesn’t discount the possibility of Proton providing contract assembly for the wider Geely group in the future, as it has excess capacity at its car and engine plants in Tanjung Malim.

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