China's EV brand operates "lighthouse factory" in Thailand

Chinese automaker GAC Aion, a subsidiary of GAC Group, has built a "lighthouse factory" in Thailand, marking a milestone in the company's overseas expansion and its contribution to upgrading Thailand's automotive industry with advanced technologies.

Selected by the World Economic Forum, "lighthouse factories" are considered to represent the highest level of global intelligent manufacturing.

Located in Amata City Rayong Industrial Park in Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor, the smart factory began operation in July this year with a planned investment of 2.3 billion baht (64 million U.S. dollars) and an annual capacity of 50,000 electric vehicles (EVs).

The factory is a highly intelligent plant which applies new technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things to achieve more efficient production of multiple models.

It has the first and only fully autonomous mobile robotic auto production platform in Thailand, according to Ma Haiyang, general manager of GAC Aion Southeast Asia.

"As we know, traditional production lines are linear, sequential and unable to conduct flexible production. While our production line uses intelligent network technologies and an intelligent mobile platform that can automatically identify positions to enable intelligent and sequential production," Ma said.

Thailand has long been a major automobile production base in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. With the help of the Thai government's investment promotion, EVs are expected to account for 30 percent of the country's total vehicle production by 2030.

GAC Aion officially launched its Thailand strategy in June last year and its first product was launched in September.

Chinese companies in Thailand and Southeast Asia at large are also working with local colleges to cultivate talents for the EV industry.

In recent years, GAC Group has vigorously expanded overseas markets. It now operates with automobile sales and after-sales services in 68 countries and regions.

China's EV brand operates "lighthouse factory" in Thailand

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday that it would slash key interest rates by 25 basis points in a bid to wind down the restrictive monetary policy.

Effective from March 12, the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will be decreased to 2.50 percent, 2.65 percent and 2.90 percent respectively, said the central bank in a statement.

The disinflation process is well on track, with headline inflation averaging 2.3 percent in 2025, 1.9 percent in 2026 and 2.0 percent in 2027, the ECB said.

The decision to keep on cutting rates came at a time when the economy in the eurozone is facing increasing uncertainties.

In its latest edition of the staff projections on Thursday, the ECB lowered its forecast for economic growth in the eurozone to 0.9 percent for 2025, 1.2 percent for 2026 and 1.3 percent for 2027.

This marks a downward revision from the ECB's forecast in December last year, which had projected 1.1 percent growth in 2025 and 1.4 percent in 2026, while the 2027 outlook remains unchanged.

The ECB attributed the weaker growth outlook for 2025 and 2026 to declining exports and sluggish investment, citing high trade policy uncertainty and broader economic instability as key factors.

ECB cuts interest rates by 25 basis points