Volkswagen's parents' convey 'Thailand Vehicle' vehicles at separate injection of a fight 'Grey' debut first new pickup.

Thailand Company Limited automotive importer and distributor of Volkswagen cars Swakopmund packages. Official in Thailand "Thailand Automotive Group" revealed that Swarovski and Volkswagen AG of Germany. Know the condition of the fiercely competitive car market in the country. The parent company is trying to help the Thailand Automotive competitively. Is funding to support the motor vehicles sold in Thailand today. By the motor during the 29 days from 29 November -10 December 2555 at Challenger, Muang Thong Thani, will deliver benefits for consumers to order or buy Volkswagen Car Swarovski Christmas Holiday SEA models (Scirocco. ) and GTI (GTI) will offer a discount for more than one hundred thousand units over the government to tax the car for the first car one hundred thousand baht.

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Honda eyes tax rebate

Honda plans to introduce a new small car in the A-car segment before the tax rebate under the government's first-time car buyer programme ends this year.

Currently, five Honda models _ the Brio, Jazz, Jazz Hybrid, City and City CNG _ are qualified for the tax scheme rebate.

Customers can reserve a car to obtain the first-time car buyer tax rebate by Dec 31.

Honda Automobile (Thailand) will set another record in the automotive industry with the upcoming launch of its new A-car sedan. The new car model will be powered by a 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder, 16-valve, 90-horsepower engine and a storage trunk with room enough for two golf bags. It is also equipped with safety equipment including an anti-lock braking system and front dual SRS airbags. The new model will be another choice for customers in the fourth quarter, before the first-car tax rebate programme ends. Honda did not name the new car model or disclose its price.

CP Group lures China s SAIC to set up carmaking base here

Thailand's biggest agricultural conglomerate, Charoen Pokphand Group, has persuaded China's biggest carmaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) to set up a manufacturing base for right-hand-drive vehicles in Thailand as well as expand its motorcycle manufacturing to capitalise on the creation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.

SAIC has approached CP Group to be its partner here to set up a factory aimed at exports not only to Asean countries but other destinations as well. They are looking for a location for the production base. Initially, production capacity in Thailand would be 300,000 units per year.

SAIC is China's biggest auto-maker, with annual production capacity of 4 million units and sales of US$54 billion (Bt1.67 trillion). It is ranked as the world's seventh-biggest carmaker.

In addition, the group will expand its motorcycle production under the Dayang brand. A location is being sought in Thailand for the plant. However, that expansion plan will focus on the local Thai market. The group's motorcycle plant in Luoyang, in central China's Henan province, produced 1.6 million units last year, of which 25 per cent were exported and the remainder sold in the domestic market.

It is expected that details of the Thailand investment and location will be finalised by the third quarter of the year.

Thanakorn Seriburi, vice chairman of the CP Group, said yesterday that the two sides were negotiating business cooperation. SAIC sent a team to conduct a feasibility study on investment in Thailand while CP is considering its stake in this joint venture, planning to hold 30-40 per cent.

He added that SAIC planned to set up Thailand as its production base for the MG brand, focusing on right-hand-drive vehicles. The company took over this brand from a British carmaker. Initially, production capacity is set for 50,000 units per year with exports to Asean, Australia and New Zealand.

"The project has come after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's recent visit to China. The executives of 14 leading Chinese companies also met her on a one-to-one basis to learn more about trade and investment facilitation," Thanakorn said.

"SAIC is interested in forming a business partnership with CP. We are proud to be attracting foreign investors to the Kingdom."

In addition, the group is looking for a location to set up a manufacturing facility, where it plans to transfer technology from China.

Thanakorn said CP's motorcycle business hoped for 10 per cent of the total market of 2 million units. The retail price of its motorcycles will be Bt20,000-Bt30,000, which will be focused on the upcountry market.

CP Group's investment in China focuses on five businesses: integrated food from feed through processing food under its Chia Tai brand, agricultural community projects, retail business via CP-Lotus, dealership of Caterpillar heavy machines, and motorcycle manufacturing.

Recently, the group has been granted permission in Henan province to build the Chiatai International Plaza Civic Centre of Luoyang, a mega-project. Started last year, this five-year project comprises a government centre and business and shopping centre, with an investment of Bt20 billion (4 billion yuan). Inside the compound there will be four high-rise buildings 40-55 storeys tall, eight condominiums, a 170,000-square-metre shopping complex and 140,000sqm government office centre.

The group's agricultural community has been set up in three provinces in China - Beijing, Shandong and Guangdong - for pigs, chickens and a pork-processing plant. It also plans to expand to six or seven areas this year. However, lack of manpower has been a problem and has prompted the group to focus more on training people to serve the business, as each project covers 10,000 rai (1,600 hectares).

However, CP-Lotus will make aggressive moves this year after having suspended outlet expansion for four or five years because of its failure in small cities. The group currently manages 75 shops, of which 50 are in Shanghai and Guangdong.

"We are learning more about operating business in China. We will employ more local Chinese staff in the cities rather than getting staff from a big city to control the management," Thanakorn said.

In addition, the group's heavy-machinery dealership under the Caterpillar brand is growing well with sales set to reach Bt50 billion this year, up from Bt40 billion last year.

Thailand flooding crisis

      Thailand has been inundated with severe floods in its recent history and the recent inundation of floods in Thailand has not only had a major effect on local automotive production and supply chain disturbances but is also likely to have short term effect on regional and global supply of automotive parts and vehicle exports. Thailand is currently experiencing the worst flooding in the last 5 decades and the automotive sector, which has an annual production capacity of about 2 million units in 2010, has been one of the most affected industries. Besides the effects on the Thai auto market, there are also serious effects on the global supply chain as a large of automotive parts and vehicles are exported from the country. As shown in the map above (prepared by Frost & Sullivan), most of the heavy flooding is focused in the central province of Thailand with Ayutthaya and Pathumthani provinces that have automotive assemblers and parts suppliers, being the most affected regions. Honda’s assembly plant is located in Ayutthaya and it is the most affected carmaker occurring even with flood inundation within the assembly plant. All the other carmakers’ assembly locations are outside the flood affected regions such as Chachoengsao (Toyota and Isuzu), Samut Prakarn (Nissan and Toyota), Chonburi (Mitsubishi), and Rayong (Auto Alliance Thailand and GM). Honda has stopped its production for one week mainly because the plant is submerged with water while Toyota has stopped production for the one week mainly due to supply chain disruption in the Ayutthaya and Pathumthani provinces. Ford has resumed its passenger vehicle production after a stoppage but its pick-up vehicle production is still suspended. GeneralMotors (which makes Chevrolet vehicles) is the least affected carmaker, mainly due to its plant location and its supplier base in southeastern Thailand which is outside the flood-affected regions GM vehicle plant and its new powertrain factory (right), both in Rayong in the southeast area of Thailand, have escaped the floods and can continue production but are susceptible to parts shortages if they are dependent on suppliers who are in the flooded areas and have had to stop operations The severe effect on autoparts makers has caused a serious disruption in the supply chain structure. This situation has had a cascading effect on automotive assembly and production in Thailand. Almost 10% of total auto parts for local production come from flood-affected regions. Toyota, Auto Alliance Thailand, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan are all dependent on autoparts makers which have factories in the flood-affected areas; in the Ayutthaya and Pathumthani provinces, there are some 40 suppliers. Just one part not supplied to the assembly line and the car cannot be completed at all The unprecedented situation is likely to affect automotive assembly in the short term. The production halt might continue for some weeks depending on the severity of the flooding. Honda is likely to have a production loss of about 10,000-15,000 units with the closure of its plant for up to 5 weeks. Toyota and Isuzu are likely to lose the next 2-3 weeks of production due to shortage of parts supply with loss of estimated production volume to be approximately 30,000 - 35,000 units and 10,000-15,000 units, respectively. Frost & Sullivan estimate the overall production volume loss of approximately 80,000 - 100,000 units for all carmakers in Thailand if they lose the next 2 - 3 weeks of production. However, they are likely to recover this production loss by ramping up their production for the next 2 months by increasing the working hours and running the plants at full capacity. To compensate for the loss of production in Thai assembly plants, the carmakers are make a short-term production shift to other ASEAN countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia where they have assembly operations for certain models as well. For example, Honda also assembles the Jazz in Indonesia so it could transfer production there for a while. Almost 900,000 units vehicles representing 54% - 55% of total vehicles assembled in Thailand were exported in 2010. The main export regions were Australia, New-Zealand, Europe, the Middle East, Mexico, South Africa and Brunei. The vehicle models presently exported are vehicles such as Honda’s Jazz, Civic, City, Accord and Toyota’s Hilux. Disruptions in the supply of parts have been the main reason for many carmakers’ plants having to stop their assembly lines. Some of the factors that are likely to be considered by the carmakers in future are: Honda's factory in Indonesia also produces the Jazz (including stamped parts) and could take over production from the Thai plant in the short-term • Increase the stockpile in terms of parts and revisit the process of JIT (Just In Time) so that there is enough stock at the vehicle assembly plant for at least a month if there are any disruptions related to autoparts supply; • Multi-sourcing strategy that involves not only sourcing parts from different suppliers but from different regions that will have a lower impact if this situation arises again; • Climatic de-risking of the supply chain that involves carmakers’ investments at geographic locations that are least impacted due to natural disasters. The Japanese carmakers in India, especially Honda, have already started increasing their localization content (80% - 90%) and the remaining autoparts are likely to be supplied either from Japan or other ASEAN countries. The automotive production in Thailand will be affected in the near-term due to the lack of auto parts supply as a result of the floods but is not likely to have a medium to long-term effect on Thailand as an automotive production hub in the region.