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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.

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Oil settled down $US2.24 a barrel at $US119.17 - almost $US30 below its highs in July.

After the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged, investors charged into stocks that suffered most during oil’s rise. The Amex Airline Index rallied 2.12, or 9.6 per cent, to 24.20, reaching its apex of the northern hemisphere summer.

American Airlines parent AMR surged $US1.26, or 13 per cent, to $US10.95. Ford Motor added US28 cents, or 5.8 per cent, to $US5.09, and General Motors rose US59c, or 5.8 per cent, to $US10.69, although the latter was down 57 per cent for the year to date.

Owing to the spikes in oil and petrol prices this summer, malls have lost customers, airlines have turned in massive losses and the auto market is such that a recent review of EBay showed sports utility vehicles less than five years old selling for a fraction of their purchase price.

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European automakers’ efforts to persuade more Americans to buy cars with diesel engines are turning into an uphill battle because of rising prices at the pumps.

German manufacturers Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG and BMW AG have launched initiatives to make diesel cars more popular in the U.S. as they bet Americans will eventually overcome the perception that diesel engines are loud, smelly and polluting. But their plans appear to be stalling on the back of soaring oil prices.

“The recent price hike is a major blow for the companies’ initial plans to offer more cars with diesel engines in the U.S.,” said Global Insight analyst Roman Mathyssek. He said more-focused marketing efforts along with the diesel engine’s superior fuel efficiency still might be able to win over American customers, if the price for diesel eases again.
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GM says it is investing in a company that makes ethanol economically out of nonfood plant matter.

The investment in Boston-based Mascoma comes at a time when the whole ethanol industry, as well as the U.S. government, is under fire for pushing ethanol too fast when it can only be made from corn on a mass scale. That policy has helped drive up the cost of corn, as well as food, and helped, many argue, drive food shortages in developing countries.

GM President Fritz Henderson said the investment in the company is because of its “best-in-class microorganisms and enzymes could lead a transformation to a new era of biofuels.”
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