Diesel headquarters
General Motors Wednesday announced plans to invest 15 billion baht - $445 million - to build a new plant to manufacture clean, green turbo-diesel engines in Thailand.
“This plant will enable us to deliver to our customers the cleanest, most efficient diesel engine technology available,” said Steve Carlisle, president for General Motors Southeast Asia Operations and Chevrolet Sales (Thailand). “This is crucial in these days of rising fuel prices.”
The Thai investment extends Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner’s strategy of expanding in the Asia-Pacific region, where sales grew about 10 per cent in the first half in contrast to slumping demand in the US. GM is in danger of being overtaken as the world’s top auto maker by Toyota as it closes US plants.
The diesel engine plant, GM’s first in Southeast Asia, is to be located along the Eastern Seaboard in Rayong province, home to most auto-industry plants.
GM has been operating an assembly plant in Rayong for the past eight years. Tuesday’s announcement said the top-selling firm will also upgrade its existing vehicle assembly plant
The new plant, scheduled to begin production in 2010, will produce more than 100,000turbo-diesel engines annually, of 2.5-litre and 2.8-litre .
Mr Wagoner, who flew in for the announcement, added that the investment in the diesel plant and expansion of existing facilities was in keeping with GM’s strategy of expanding its presence in emerging markets.
Wagoner said there was significant interest in the auto maker’s planned sale of up to $4 billion of assets as it battles record losses and falling sales, but no deals were expected soon.
General Motors Corp is struggling against an accelerating downturn in its home market and high oil prices that have hammered sales of its trucks and SUVs, triggering a $15.5 billion quarterly loss, the third-largest in its 100-year history.
Chief Financial Officer Ray Young has said GM is on track to free up $15 billion in liquidity with cost-cutting, asset sales and new borrowing under a July plan intended to reassure investors that the car maker can ride out the downturn. “Frankly, we are getting some significant interest in our asset sales, including Hummer, but probably it won’t be concluded imminently,” GM chairman Wagoner told a news conference at the launch of a new diesel engine plant
“General Motors is intent on becoming the industry leader here in Thailand and across Asean,” said Wagoner.
The automaker fell further behind Toyota during the second quarter as a deteriorating US market overshadowed gains overseas. GM dropped 5 per cent to 2.29 million vehicles, while Toyota posted a preliminary increase of 1.8 per cent to about 2.41 million. Demand in Asia and Latin America led GM to a 16 per cent rise outside of Europe and North America.
Thailand over the past two decades has become the main hub for automobile assembly and manufacturing in the Asean region grouping Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Source: The Bangkok Post
Tags: biodiesel, diesel price rising, GM, Thailand, Toyota