Tata Motors’ Thai unit has received the government’s green light to start building 35,000 pickup trucks each year.


Thailand’s Board of Investment (BoI) approved the 1.3bn baht ($43.4m) 70:30 joint venture between Tata Motors of India and Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant to build 35,000 one-ton pickup trucks per year in Samut Prakan, the Bangkok Post reported.


The trucks will have 54% local content, worth 3.91bn baht per year, including engine parts, steering systems, bodies and suspension systems, and 80% will be sold in Thailand, creating 482 new jobs, the report said.


The Tata-brand vehicles will be the first pickups assembled at Thonburi’s plant which has previously built various Mercedes-Benz models.


An industry source told the Bangkok Post the Tata truck had an estimated price of 400,000 to 500,000 baht, lower than the 600,000 to 1m baht of rivals.

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Thailand is already a production centre for Japanese-designed light pickup trucks sold outside North America. Mitsubishi and Toyota have export-oriented factories in the country and the Ford/Mazda joint venture plant has just celebrated building its millonth unit.