GM to sell first Thai car

GM to sell first Thai car

BANGKOK (AFP): General Motors Thailand said Wednesday it will produce a Subaru-badged multi-purpose vehicle for Fuji Heavy Industries which will be the first vehicle assembled in Thailand for export to Japan.

Production of the car, which is based on the seven-seater Safira, will begin this month and is expected to reach about 7,000-10,000 vehicles a year, it said. Sales are to start in the third quarter of 2001.

General Motors Thailand president William Botwick said the company's facility in the southern town of Rayong had been designed to produce vehicles for the Japanese market.

"Today's announcement demonstrates that we are achieving this world-class level of quality in Thailand," he said in a statement. "GM Thailand is the first Thai automaker to export vehicles to Japan."

Fuji Heavy Industries representatives said the agreement was evidence of the effectiveness of the alliance struck between the two companies in 1999, when GM took a 20 percent stake in the Japanese company.