Thailand’s authorities have approved plans by Toyota, Mitsubishi Motors and Tata Motors to build fuel-efficient cars in the country.
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The state Board of Investment (BOI) announced the approvals this week.
The projects meant a combined investment of 16.67bn baht (USD528.7m), the board said in a statement.
The Thai unit of Japanese carmaker will build a plant with the capacity to assemble 100,000 so-called eco-cars a year expected to start production in 2012, it said.
Half that production would be for export, mainly to Southeast Asia and the Asia-Oceania region, it said.
Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) is planning a plant with an annual capacity of 107,000 eco cars, 88% for export, with production scheduled for 2010, it said.
Its key export markets would be Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.
India’s Tata Motors, plans a plant to produce up to 100,000 eco-cars a year, expected to start production in 2010 and export around half to the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa.
The three plants would be built on industrial estates in eastern Thailand, the statement said.
Last year, the BOI approved the eco car production plans of Honda , Suzuki and Nissan worth a combined 21.75 billion baht with a total capacity of 378,000 cars per year.
Thailand’s eco-car tax break scheme is designed to encourage production of small cars, in addition to the large number of pick-ups that are already assembled in the country. To qualify for the scheme the manufacturer must aim to produce at least 100,000 cars annually at the plant and fuel economy must not exceed five litres of petrol per 100km.
Volkswagen is also said to be reviewing options for additional capacity in southeastern Asia following the collapse of negotiations with Proton.
