Botwick leads GM's Thai unit

Botwick leads GM's Thai unit

BANGKOK (Dow Jones): General Motors (Thailand) Ltd. (GM) said Thursday it has appointed William Botwick as its new president, with the main responsibility of overseeing the completion of the company's first local assembly plant.

Botwick is currently the president of General Motors Indonesia.

Ronald Frizzell, the previous head of the U.S. automaker General Motor Corp.'s Thai unit, has become executive director for Southeast Asia and India.

General Motors plans to open an assembly center in Rayong, southeast of Bangkok, in the middle of next year.

The plant will initially produce 40,000 cars a year, with room to expand to 100,000 at full capacity. The company plans to export 85% of the output, generating about $400 million to $500 million a year from 2001.

General Motors will produce its multi-purpose Zafira model at the plant, and plans to introduce other models at a later date.

The company currently produces the Zafira at its assembly plant in Germany.