National Business Wire (Jan 16) -- Kia Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, has decided to abandon plans to build an assembly plant in Thailand, according to KED Global.

The automaker, however, plans to launch a sales subsidiary in Thailand on Jan. 31 to oversee local sales, marketing and after-sales customer service, the report said on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The reason for shelving the plan was that Kia failed to reach an agreement with the Thailand Board of Investment regarding incentives from the local government, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Kia had considered building an assembly plant in Thailand's eastern province of Rayong, with a projected annual capacity of 250,000 units.

The Thai government wants to make Thailand the largest electric vehicle manufacturing base in ASEAN, launching a "30/30 policy" aimed at achieving a 30% share of electric vehicles in the country's total vehicle production by 2030.