GAC Aion began shipping its first export shipment of vehicles to Thailand, marking the official launch of its efforts to enter the international markets.

(Image credit: GAC Aion)

GAC Aion, the electric vehicle (EV) subsidiary of GAC Group, has begun shipping its first batch of EVs to Thailand, after announcing plans to enter the country in late June.

On August 21, GAC Aion's first exported vehicles, 100 units of the Aion Y Plus, were loaded onto a ship at Guangzhou's Nansha Port and began shipping to Thailand's Port of Laem Chabang, the company announced today.

This is GAC Aion's first shipment of vehicles to an overseas market and is a milestone event in its internationalization journey, it said.

The Aion Y Plus vehicles are GAC Aion's right-hand drive version built specifically for the Thai market and have been certified by local transportation authorities, according to the company.

Thailand, as an important economy in Southeast Asia, has a broad market outlook and great potential for growth, GAC Aion said, adding that it will set up its Southeast Asian headquarters in Thailand within this year and that localized production is also under active preparation.

On June 28, GAC Aion signed a memorandum of cooperation with a Thai distributor to enter the Thai market, according to its previous announcement.

GAC Aion is one of the top-selling EV brands in China, selling 45,025 vehicles in July, the fourth consecutive month with more than 40,000 units, according to data it announced earlier this month.

In the January-July period, GAC Aion sold 256,361 vehicles, up 104.62 percent year-on-year, data monitored by CnEVPost showed.

Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, has become an important overseas market for mass-market-oriented Chinese EV brands to focus on. On the other hand, Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV), whose vehicles are priced at higher prices, are focusing their efforts mainly on the European market.

On August 24, 2022, Neta announced the launch of the right-hand drive version of the Neta V EV in Thailand as its first model offered there. On March 10 of this year, Neta laid the groundbreaking for its plant in Bangkok, Thailand, which will be its main manufacturing base for building right-hand drive EVs for export to ASEAN.

BYD launched its compact Dolphin EV to local customers on July 6 with its Thai partner Rêver Automotive.

GAC Aion's Hyper brand says it has built 14 swap stations