Changan starts exporting Thai-made EVs to Europe

In the final week of 2025, Changan shipped the first batch of its Thai-made EVs from Laem Chabang Port in Chonburi, located about 60 kilometres north-west of the company’s local production facility in Pluak Daeng district in Rayong. The company has not revealed the specific destination, but the UK is considered the most likely market for the first batch. That is where the car carrier is headed, and according to a report from WorldCargoNews, it will later sail to Belgium, Norway, and Germany, all of which are left-hand-drive countries.

In 2024, Shen Xinghua, the managing director of Changan Auto Southeast Asia and Changan Auto Sales (Thailand), said that the company would export cars from Thailand to left-hand-drive countries as well, La Nación reported. However, the Chinese automaker has yet to confirm whether it has commenced LHD production at the Thai plant.

Changan had originally planned to export more than 1,000 units of the Deepal S05 to Europe in the first batch, but ultimately shipped around half of that volume, totalling 500 vehicles. The company did not disclose the reason for the discrepancy.

The Thai plant offers an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles, and Changan plans to double this figure next year. The company sources more than 60 per cent of components and parts locally, and it is aiming for 80 per cent localisation by 2030. It has invested over 10 billion baht (around 273 million euros) in the local facility, which is its first overseas factory.

According to a recent announcement, Changan has expanded Deepal’s presence to nearly 100 countries and regions worldwide. The company sold 333,117 vehicles from the brand globally in 2025, representing a 36.6 per cent year-on-year increase and taking cumulative sales to more than 700,000 units.

Changan is not the first Chinese carmaker to set up shop in Thailand. BYD also started exporting from there last year. There are two reasons for that: one is that the carmaker is bypassing Aranceles especiales impuestos por la UE on EVs made in China. The other is to meet the requirements of Thailand’s EV 3.5 scheme. It says that carmakers from China have to offset the number of vehicles imported from China with the number of vehicles manufactured in Thailand, while the government recently decided to count each EV that a participating company exports as 1.5 units towards the local EV offset quota. Under the programme, carmakers benefit from an import duty exemption, a reduced excise tax, as well as subsidies on EVs imported from China.

nationthailand.com (LHD export), changan.es (1,000 units), deepal.com.cn, weibo.com, worldcargonews.com