Great Wall Motors' plant in Thailand started operation on Wednesday, marking the latest step of the largest Chinese pickup and SUV maker to explore overseas markets.

That plant, located in Rayong, covers an area of 658,800 square meters. It has an annual production capacity of 80,000 vehicles and would create around 1,000 job opportunities for local people, said the carmaker.

The carmaker said 60 percent of vehicles produced at the plant will be sold locally, and the rest will be exported.

Great Wall Motors' first Thailand-made model is the hybrid Haval H6 SUV, which will be launched later this month. The carmaker said the plant can produce gasoline vehicles, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles as well.

It will offer nine models in the Thai market within 3 years, with most of them electric ones, said the carmaker.

The plant will play a role in enabling the Thai automotive industry to make its mark in the international market, especially in the electric car segment. Thailand has set a goal of having 50 percent of vehicles made locally being EVs by 2030.

The Rayong plant, built based on a car production facility it acquired from General Motors is the company's second overseas car plant after the Tula plant in Russia, which started operation in 2019.

Great Wall Motors is stepping up its efforts to explore the global market in recent years. Last month, its overseas sales exceeded 10,000 units, up nearly 558 percent year-on-year.