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 United Nations (UN) is opposed to anything that "could constitute extrajudicial execution" and urged all relevant parties to avoid further escalation of the Middle East conflict, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at a press conference in New York City on Wednesday.
Haq was responding to a media query about the killing of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and Iran's Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, in Israeli attacks earlier this week.
The assassinations of Khatib and Iran's top security official Larijani were confirmed by the Iranian government on Wednesday and Tuesday, respectively.
Haq also briefed the press about Guterres' ongoing visit to Brussels, during which the Secretary-General will hold meetings with European Union (EU) leaders on UN-EU ties and global hotspot issues, such as the conflict in the Middle East and the Ukraine crisis.
"The Secretary-General arrived in Brussels earlier this morning for a series of meetings, including with European Union officials. He met earlier this afternoon with Maxime Prevot, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation of Belgium. The Secretary-General then began his meetings with European Union officials, starting with Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament. The Secretary-General and the president discussed the partnership between the United Nations and the European Union. They also discussed a number of crises around the world, including the situation in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine," said Haq.
"The Secretary-General will travel to the seat of the European Commission for discussions with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. And later, the Secretary-General will meet with Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, and also have a working dinner with Mr. Costa," he said.
On the killing of a string of senior Iranian officials, Haq expressed the UN's opposition to illegal military strikes and repeated its call for a de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
"First of all, as a point of principle, the United Nations is opposed to anything that could constitute extrajudicial execution, and that's true in all such cases, But beyond that, we do not believe that there is a military solution to this problem and we reiterate our call to Israel, to the United States, to Iran, and to any other parties to avoid any further escalation of this conflict," he said.
UN opposes 'extrajudicial execution', urges de-escalation of Middle East conflict: deputy spokesman
