Isuzu builds auto assembly plant on 180-hectare site in Thailand

Isuzu builds auto assembly plant on 180-hectare site in Thailand

BANGKOK (AFP): Japanese automaker Isuzu has begun building a new commercial vehicle assembly plant in Thailand's Chachoengsao province worth at least two billion baht (US$80 million), an official said yesterday.

The company's new assembly plant is located on 180 hectares (300 acres) in an industrial estate about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Bangkok, said Phaibool Poocharoen, general manager of Tri Petch Isuzu Sales Co. Ltd..

"The initial value of the investment will be two billion baht and it will produce large commercial trucks," Phaibool said.

The new plant will serve increasing domestic demand, he said, adding that sales have increased at an average of about 10 percent per year. Production capacity will be around 60,000-to- 70,000 units per year.

Construction was begun in this year's fourth quarter, and production was expected to begin in 1998, he said.

Currently, all types of Isuzu vehicles were being assembled at the company's Phra Padaeng plant in Bangkok's neighboring Samut Prakan province.

"The production capacity of the Phra Padaeng plant is now 150,000 units a year, and the company expects it will expand to produce 180,000 small vehicles per year in the year 2001," Phaibool said.

The current plant also assembles 5,000 one-ton pickup units for Honda Cars (Thailand), which began to sell in September, while a similar number of the same units will be assembled for General Motors (Thailand) beginning in April.

Tri Petch Isuzu Sales sold 100,458 units in the first 10 months of the year, most of them commercial vehicles, he said.

At a yet unspecified date, the company will equip its one-ton pickups with exhaust emission control systems meeting the Euro-1 standard, Phaibool said. Most pickups sold in Thailand have diesel engines.