Honda, the world’s third-largest carmaker, is to spend about US$644 million (B19.2 billion) on building a new car plant in Thailand and expanding an existing factory as part of its bid to boost production in the country.
Japan’s third largest automaker said that its Thai subsidiary would build the new factory in Prachinburi province, about 120 kilometres (74 miles) east of Bangkok, at a cost of B17.15 billion.
With production capacity of 120,000 vehicles annually, the plant is scheduled to begin operations in 2015 with initial plans to hire some 1,200 employees, Honda said.
The automaker said it would mainly produce small and sub compact-sized vehicles at the Prachinburi plant in response to growing global demand.
Honda separately said its Thai unit had finished expanding production at its Ayutthaya plant from 240,000 vehicles a year to 280,000.
It now planned to boost that figure to 300,000 units in 2014, at a cost of about B2.03 billion.
That would bring the automaker’s combined annual output capacity in Thailand to 420,000 vehicles in 2015, including output from the new plant.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) is ramping up production capacity of Mirage eco-cars this year to meet rising demand for eco-cars at home and abroad.
Nobuyuki Murahashi, the company’s president, said Mitsubishi plans this year to increase the capacity of Mirage eco-cars at its third plant production in Laem Chabang to 200,000 units.
It started commercial production early last year with an annual capacity of 150,000 units.
Mitsubishi will spend around B1 billion in the capacity expansion.
He said eco-cars or city cars are expected to remain popular both locally and abroad.
“Though the government’s first-time car buyer scheme has expired, eco-cars are still cheap and eco-friendly,” said Mr Murahashi.
“Mitsubishi aims to sell an average of 10,000 units a month, with the Mirage expected to make up 45 per cent of sales.”
Late last year Mitsubishi announced plans to spend B4-5 billion in 2013 to upgrade three car assembly plants, increasing output and preparing for new models.
Some B3-4 billion will be used for maintenance of the first and second plants, also in Laem Chabang, and for equipment replacement to prepare for new models.
The first and second plants presently have a combined annual capacity of 310,000 vehicles.
Once capacity is added at the third plant, the combined production of Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) will rise to 510,000 units by year-end.
Mr Murahashi expects exports to make up 70 per cent of sales this year, as the industry normalises from last year’s 60 per cent. Domestic sales are estimated at 120,000 units this year, down from 129,460 units last year.
In January this year, the company sold 13,000 units, a surge of about 80 per cent from the same month last year.
– AFP/Bangkok Post