Suzuki Motor’s Thai unit is ramping up its export drive as the domestic market continues to spiral lower.
So far this year, the company has exported around 1,000 Swift compact passenger cars each month to other markets in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia – and Australia, with which Thailand has a free trade agreement.
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Suzuki’s sales in Thailand are expected to fall by a third to 30,000 units this year, from 45,200 in 2013. The overall vehicle market has fallen 38% to 579,243 units in the first eight months of 2014.
The company began exporting the Celerio one-litre small car, sold in Thailand as an Eco-Car, at the end of September. Monthly exports of this model are expected to reach 3,000 units – including shipments to European countries including the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Italy. The first shipment of 841 units left for Europe this week.
These two models are produced at Suzuki’s plant in Rayong, which has capacity for 100,000 cars a year after a total spend of close to THB10bn (US$308m).
The company has received tax concessions as a result of the Celerio’s participation in Thailand’s Eco-Car programme which requires a large proportion of output to be exported.
Suzuki plans to spend a further THB5bn to raise Celerio capacity to 100,000 units per year by 2016, from the current 50,000 units, as part of its commitment to meet the Eco-Car programme’s requirements.
