BYD’s plant in Rayong, Thailand, built its 100,000th vehicle on 21 September 2026, about 26 months after it opened in July 2024. It is BYD’s first wholly owned passenger-car plant outside China, and it matters to European owners because it builds Dolphins for Europe.
Affected#
Buyers in Thailand and South-East Asia, and in Europe: in August 2025 the plant’s first European shipment took more than 900 Dolphins to the UK, Germany and Belgium. A Dolphin in those markets may be Thai-built rather than Chinese-built.
Confirmed#
As reported by CnEVPost and corroborated by Gasgoo:
| Location | WHA Industrial Estate, Rayong province |
| Opened | July 2024 |
| 100,000th vehicle | 21 Sept 2026, an Atto 3 |
| Designed capacity | 150,000 vehicles a year |
| Thai share of workforce | 95 % |
| Local procurement | about 50 % |
| Jobs | more than 5,000 |
The milestone car was an Atto 3, BYD’s first model in Thailand in 2022. The plant builds five models, including the Dolphin and the Sealion 6 DM-i. BYD’s cumulative deliveries in Thailand passed 130,000 in July.
Unconfirmed#
- Which European markets get Thai-built cars today. The 2025 shipment is documented; current allocation is not.
- Earlier milestones. Figures of 10,000 units by November 2024 and 70,000 by late 2025 circulate, but we did not see them on a page we could check, so they are not used here.
- Whether Thai-built and Chinese-built Dolphins differ. Nothing reported suggests they do, and nothing reported rules it out — software versions in particular.