- The first phase of the plant is expected to start production in the fourth quarter of this year, with a planned annual capacity of 10,000 vehicles.
- The CKD plant will cover an area of 12 hectares with a total investment of $32 million.
BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) has broken ground on its passenger car plant in Cambodia, as the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) maker expands its capacity in overseas markets.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the plant, Cambodia's first NEV production facility, was held on April 28 at the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, according to a report yesterday by Chinese state-run media outlet China News Service.
Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice President of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wenbin, and Mang Sineth, governor of Preah Sihanouk Province, witnessed the occasion, the report noted.
The plant will cover an area of 12 hectares with a total investment of $32 million.
The first phase, which will mainly produce battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), is expected to go into operation in the fourth quarter of this year, with a planned annual capacity of 10,000 units, according to the report.
Separately, according to Cambodian English-language media outlet The Phnom Penh Post, the BYD plant is a CKD (Completely Knocked Down) vehicle assembly plant.
Construction of the plant is expected to be completed by October, and the first BYD EVs assembled in Cambodia will roll off the production line in early November, the report said.
CKD is a trade-specific term that refers to a production method in which a producing country imports parts in the form of bulk kits and assembles them locally.
Localization efforts through bulk assembly usually include both CKD and SKD (Semi Knocked Down) approaches.
The EV market in Cambodia is still relatively small but growing rapidly.
A total of 2,253 EVs were registered in Cambodia in 2024, a 620 percent increase from the 313 registered in 2023, The Phnom Penh Post noted.
The most popular EV brands in Cambodia include BYD, Toyota and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), the report said.
BYD entered the Cambodian market and opened its first passenger car sales center in Phnom Penh in 2020, introducing several NEV models.
In August 2022, BYD launched the Atto 3 in Cambodia, a compact SUV (sport utility vehicle) known in China as the Yuan Plus, its first global model.
In July 2024, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet said on X that BYD planned to build an EV plant in Cambodia to supply the local market and export to international markets.
In Southeast Asia, BYD already has a factory. On July 4, 2024, BYD opened its Thailand plant and saw its 8 millionth NEV roll off the production line at the plant.
With an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles, the Thai plant is BYD's first wholly owned overseas passenger car plant and its first in Southeast Asia.
In addition, BYD plans to build a plant in Indonesia.
BYD plans to complete construction of its $1 billion Indonesian plant by the end of 2025, Reuters said in a January report citing Eagle Zhao, the company's Indonesian branch chief.
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