It’s no secret that Thailand wants to position itself as the automotive capital of Southeast Asia. The government has been encouraging manufactures to set up shop by making it an ideal place to do business throughout the last decade of ever-changing political parties.
Last Thursday, Ford Motors opened up a manufacturing plant in the province of Rayong to the tune of a cool USD450 million, or almost THB14 billion. The addition of this plant allows Ford to produce ninety percent of the automobiles intended for all ASEAN nations right here in Thailand. We’d say that justifies being called an automotive manufacturing “hub.”
The creation of this plant really restores our hope in the fact that major auto firms prefer Thailand over other countries in the region. The plant opened after a devastating USD83 million loss (THB2.5 billion) due to the flooding crisis last year, said Reuters, but Ford still committed to Thailand despite eyeing Indonesia as a potential manufacturing base.
Hopefully the government is better prepared to handle the rumored impending flood crisis this year in order to better allow the plant’s 445,000 vehicle per year production capacity to be met.
