Tata Motors, India’s largest vehicle company, is exploring investment opportunities in Thailand as the country could serve it well as a production base, a Tata senior official said on Tuesday, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
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“Thailand is a vibrant market. It has a healthy economy and good industry base,” V Sumantran, a Tata executive director, told the news agency on the sidelines of a business seminar on the automotive industry, though he gave no further details.
Dow Jones noted that major car makers such as Toyota, Isuzu and Ford have announced plans to increase their investments in Thailand, as the country’s economic growth is spurring vehicle sales – during January to September, new vehicle sales rose 32% year on year to 379,252 units.
Foreign car markers also find Thailand to be a favourable production base given the tax benefits offered by the government and also expect lower tariffs on car exports within the Southeast Asian region due to the free trade agreements among countries in the region, Dow Jones added.
“We are looking closely to set up commercial vehicle operation in South Korea, ” Sumantran told Dow Jones, which noted that, earlier November, Tata Motors and South Korea’s Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co. signed a preliminary agreement for Tata to purchase Daewoo Commercial for about 140 billion won.
Dow Jones said Tata is now conducting due diligence on Daewoo Commercial’s truck manufacturing facility but hasn’t yet decided whether to buy the South Korean company.
