SAIC Motor has opened its second vehicle assembly plant in Thailand with a ceremony attended by the country’s deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak.
The new THB10bn (US$308m) factory is located near the port city of Chonburi, about 100km (60 miles) east of Bangkok. It is managed by the company’s local subsidiary SAIC Motor-CP, a joint venture founded in 2012 by Shanghai-based SAIC Motor (51%) and the local CP Group (49%).
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SAIC Motor-CP began production in 2014 at a THB9bn factory located in nearby Rayong province with an annual production capacity of 50,000 vehicles.
It sold close to 9,300 MG passenger vehicles in Thailand in the first 10 months of 2017, including the recently launched ZS SUV. This compared with 8,300 sales in all of 2016.
The new plant has annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles per year and will supply right hand drive vehicles for the ASEAN market. It currently employs 690 people and will eventually make five models – 3, 5, 6, GS and ZS.
SAIC Motor-CP is also finalising plans to make small ‘eco-cars’ in the country, after it successfully applied for Eco-Car Phase II investment privileges from the country’s Board of Investment in 2014. Its original proposal under this programme called for an additional spend of THB7.6bn to produce 110,000 vehicle a year for sale locally and for export.
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By GlobalDataVice-chairman of CP Group, Thanakorn Seriburi, told local reporters the new plant has “the latest and most advanced automation available, on a par with leading mainland Chinese plants”. He added the company was keen to make new models for domestic and export sale, including electric vehicles.
