Thai-owned Kwaithong Motor Co has shelved a plan to build an assembly plant for electric buses in Thailand as the firm waits for clearer incentives and supportive policies from the government.
Chief Executive Zhang Kwaithong said the company first wants to see import tariff waivers for electric buses from China to be sold locally before making any decision on future investment.
"Although the government has announced an ambitious plan for electric vehicles (EVs) here, the cabinet is yet to have any final say on an import tariff exemption for 5,000 imported electric vehicles," he said.
In July last year, Kwaithong Motor Co, founded in 2009 by Mr Zhang, announced a 5-billion-baht plan to build an assembly plant in Thailand for EVs under the Kwaithong brand, serving both the domestic and Asean markets.
The plant was to assemble a wide range of EVs such as buses, vans, pickup trucks and passenger cars.
The company expected to start construction by late 2015. Operations of the semi-knocked-down plant were scheduled for mid-2016, starting with the production of electric buses at a rate of 2,000 units a year.
But Mr Zhang said the company remains committed to Thailand and has formed a joint venture with Chinese parts maker Chongqing Ruiyang New Energy Automobile Co to import two- and three-wheeled electric motorcycles to be sold in Thailand.
The new joint venture, Kwaithong New Energy Co, has paid-up capital of 50 million baht. Kwaithong Motor has a 49% stake in the venture and the Chinese partner holds the remaining share.
Mr Zhang, in his capacity as chairman of the new company, said a Chinese electric motorcycle maker would be hired to produce the Kwaithong brand. It expects to sell 10,000 electric motorcycles worth 600 million baht by 2017.
"Our target is people in upcountry areas," he said.
Mr Zhang said the company would dust off its investment plan once its total EV sales reaches 5 billion baht.
Kwaithong Motor is a subsidiary of Jiali Thailand Co, a distributor of agriculture equipment made in China.