Automotive Industry in Thailand

Thailand Automotive Sector

	Ford to Make Asia a Focus and Thailand to be Central Pillar of Ford’s Asian Strategy Ford Motor CEO, Bill Ford, Jr. announced in Thailand during a visit in late October 2005 that Ford plans to further target Asia for expansion and growth over the coming years. He further noted that Thailand will become a central base for Ford’s Asia production Thailand is the second largest pickup market worldwide after the U.S. Ford is producing just over 100,000 units of the Ranger pickup at the Auto Alliance plant in Rayong and expects to export them to 130 countries.
	Thailand Automotive Industry Update: 2005: Thailand has both the edge regionally as an auto production base and will compete strongly in the years ahead to reinforce its status as the Detroit of Asia. ...Toyota plans to further expand its status as the leader in Thailand for vehicle production. ...General Motors is investing Bt2.7 billion for a new paint shop at its Rayong plant and raise production capacity from 110,000 units per year to 160,000 units per year. ...Honda is also increasing its production capacity in Thailand from 100,000 cars to making 120,000 cars a year which it exports to 30 countries from its Thailand facility. .. and more.
	Thailand’s top automaker, Toyota Motor Thailand Co., overtook competitor Isuzu in 2005 to become the nation’s largest pickup manufacturer with its Hilux one-ton pickup: Toyota edges out Isuzu as main Thai pickup manufacturer

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Thailand: Detroit of Asia Thailand's automotive industry plans to leverage its competitive advantages to achieve a top-10 world automotive manufacturing ranking by 2010
Already the world's 2nd largest pick-up truck market and ASEAN's largest automotive market and assembler, Thailand moved closer to realizing "Detroit of Asia" status..

Thailand: Japan Net investment application value rose 7%, led by Japanese auto assembly and parts manufacturing
The metal, machinery and transport equipment industries attracted investment of 105.7 billion baht (US$2.6 billion), ... Ninety-six percent of investment in this sector consisted of auto assembly and auto parts manufacturing projects, totaling 101.7 billion baht (US$2.5 billion).

Thailand Engineering Resource: An Interview with Dr. Tantrakul Yamnak, president of the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT)
..Thailand mechanical engineering,..has improved significantly over the last 30 years and is moving toward a world-class standard. As many Japanese and U.S. car manufacturers have selected Thailand as their base for car production in Asia, automotive engineering course are becoming more available..

Industrial Estate: Industrial estate drive Thai production and export manufacturing platforms and services help companies compete

..Another advantage of Thai industrial estates is that the multinational investor is not required to take a local partner. This is not always true in other Southeast Asian countries. For example, BMW's fully-owned assembly and manufacturing facility at Amata City in Rayong is the only plant in all of Asia in which the elite German auto-maker enjoys 100% ownership. Its plants elsewhere in the region are joint ventures, due to national regulations...

Thailand: Australia FTA Historic FTA to fuel trade and open markets
By reducing tariffs, Thailand is on track to become an even more prominent regional automotive exporter, with a 30% boost in automotive exports to Australia projected in 2005.

Support Program for Foreign Assemblers and Manufacturing
The award-winning BOI Unit for Industrial Linkage Development (BUILD) conducts several programs to assist foreign assemblers and manufacturers with sourcing quality parts and components from Thai SME's ..These programs focus on the automotive and electronics and electrical appliances supporting industries because Thailand imports parts in these sectors.

Support for Tire Production: Carbon black manufacture approved for promotion Approximately 90% of Thailand's carbon black is used for tire production. Major tire manufacturers such as Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear have expanded in Thailand, thus increasing domestic demand for carbon black.

Interviews:

- Mr. Atsuo Kurada is president of the JETRO in Bangkok. The Bangkok office, established in 1959, is the 5th largest in the world. JETRO has 74 overseas office, with 19 in Asia. ..Thailand is the second most popular FDI destination after China. China inevitably is an important market for Japan because it is a very convenient production base, but we can’t put all of our eggs into one basket.

- John Bannell is a partner in Automotive Resources Asia Ltd. (ARA), a marketing services consulting firm specializing in Asia's automotive market. ..There are different issues facing each business environment. For example, in China, foreign manufacturers need to think more about protecting their business structure and intellectual capital versus Southeast Asian countries, where it is not so much of a worry