BMW picks Thai plant as regional launching pad<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (AP): Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, or BMW, will start
\nrolling sedans off the production lines at a new plant in
\nThailand early next year, hoping to capitalize on a nascent
\neconomic recovery, the company said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Jesus Cordoba, president of BMW (Thailand), told The
\nAssociated Press in an interview that production targets of
\n10,000 vehicles per year should be reached by 2004 and will
\ninitially be aimed at the Thai market.<\/p>\n
\"Afterward, we will study the possibilities of expanding our
\nmarket to cover all the countries around Thailand, the Southeast
\nAsian markets, and expand production to 20,000 to 30,000 units a
\nyear,\" Cordoba said.<\/p>\n
The 1.2 billion baht plant in the eastern auto production
\ncenter of Rayong, where Western automakers Ford and General
\nMotors also have facilities, is viewed by BMW as getting a bigger
\nfoot in the Asian market. Until now, the firm has relied on a
\nlocal partner to assemble vehicles from kits.<\/p>\n
The plant will create jobs for 500 Thai workers, Cordoba said,
\nand expatriate German staff will be coaching Thais to run the
\nfactory in two years, though management will remain in German
\nhands.<\/p>\n
Thailand has become the offshore Southeast Asian manufacturing
\ncenter for many of the world's big carmakers, particularly the
\nJapanese.<\/p>\n
The domestic market shrunk when the Asian economic crisis
\nstruck in 1997, but manufacturers are increasingly tooling Thai
\nplants to export vehicles to other parts of the region.<\/p>\n
Sales in the Thai passenger car market are expected to grow 18
\npercent this year from 1998, the worst year of the crisis,
\nreaching 55,000 vehicles. BMW hopes to get 3 percent of that.
\nIn the luxury performance segment, BMW's target is to get 30
\npercent, with total sales expected to reach 6,200 from 4,983 last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
In the first half of this year, BMW sold 900 luxury sedans, an
\nincrease of 65 percent year-on-year from 546 units.<\/p>",
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