Toyota To Join Other Truck Makers In Thailand

BANGKOK, Sept 19 Reuters reports that Toyota Motor Co said on Thursday it would move its global pick-up truck production base to Thailand at a cost of more than 30 billion baht ($698 million) over the next two years.

Managing Director Akio Toyoda told a news conference the biggest Japanese car-maker would more than double its production capacity of pick-ups and multi-purpose vehicles to around 200,000 a year by mid-2004, half of this destined for export.

The company now produces almost 90,000 trucks for the Thai market and another 10,000 trucks for export.

"Toyota is aiming at (the) establishment of a global scale production and supply network," he said.

Toyoda said the expanding Thai pick-up truck output would account for about 40 percent of total light trucks to be produced by his firm worldwide in 2004.

"This will easily make Thailand our biggest pick-up truck production base and our biggest export source in Asia outside Japan ... Thailand will become a central pillar of Toyota's global manufacturing strategy of pick-up trucks and multipurpose vehicles," he said.

The company said total investment by Toyota and its components and parts suppliers would be more than 30 billion baht. About half of that would come directly from Toyota Motor Thailand.

HINO OUTPUT PHASED OUT

Toyota's Hino Motors unit now produces more than 100,000 Hilux pick-up trucks a year for the Japanese car maker at its Hamura factory in Tokyo. Toyoda said Hino would stop producing Hilux trucks after the relocation to Thailand.

Toyota executives said that, with the increased pick-up truck output, the company's total production of trucks and cars in Thailand would rise to over 250,000 units per year by 2005 from nearly 150,000 this year.

Toyota Thailand's chief executive Ryoichi Sasaki told reporters the pick-up truck expansion project would provide 10,000 new jobs for Thais working for his firm and affiliated engine and parts suppliers.

He said as part of the expansion, affiliated Siam Toyota Manufacturing Co would raise its annual diesel engine output to 240,000 units by 2004 from 150,000 now.

Toyota's announcement follows an earlier move by Isuzu Motors Ltd to set up a truck export base in Thailand.

Isuzu, 49 percent owned by General Motors Corp , said in June it would lift production of pick-ups in Thailand to about 250,000 units a year by 2005 or 2006, from 147,000 in 2002.

Other car companies with substantial truck production and export facilities in Thailand are Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co, and Mazda Motor Corp.

Thailand is the world's fourth biggest market for light pick-up trucks. Thai domestic truck and commercial vehicle sales rose 40.3 percent during the first eight months of 2002 from a year ago to 171,637 units.