BANGKOK - Toyota will soon test a new electric pick-up truck in Thailand, its executive said, its latest effort to boost EV sales in the country where rising competition from Chinese rivals challenges its dominance.
Pras Ganesh, executive vice president of Toyota Daihatsu Engineering & Manufacturing, said that its engineers were working on adapting its electric pickups to local conditions and building up EV R&D capacity in Thailand, one of Toyota's five global R&D centres. Its launch in Thailand would mark a fresh attempt by Toyota to counter mounting Chinese competition there after sales of its bz4X electric SUV, which began last year, were dwarfed by sales of rivals including BYD and Great Wall Motor.
"We will first start looking at public transit," he told Reuters, adding Toyota is also considering testing other EV pickups for deployments including last-mile delivery services.