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.