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Mitsubishi Motors Corp (MMC) president Osamu Masuko said on Tuesday that the firm would soon start manufacturing the Mitsubishi Mirage at a factory in Thailand to meet both local and global demand. Calling the Mirage a 'global compact car', Mr Masuko said during a Bangkok press conference the Mirage would fit the needs of both mature and emerging markets.

Sounds ambitious…but if you look at the 2011 statistics, you will see that the 2012 projected production number of 2,100,000 vehicles will bring us about almost  right there – or at least very very close. My personal opinion: We will make it by 2013.

Total vehicle output increased by 11.6% year-on-year last month to 168,221 units after all carmakers except Honda recovered from the floods of 2011.

Volkswagen Group Malaysia and local partner DRB-HICOM have officially started assembly of the Passat from SKD kits in Pekan. The partners also laid the foundation stone for a new production hall at the plant site. In a second stage, the Jetta and Polo will be produced - from CKD kits.

Interesting feature about Continental Thailand and portrait of Dirk Janovsky, MD: "Our biggest automobile client is the AutoAlliance Thailand plant. Continental components are used in the Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, Nissan March and Ford Fiesta,"said Janovsky, who holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the  Institute of Production Technology and Machine Tools, the University of Darmstadt. Janovsky will be overseeing an additional 600 million baht investment at the plant which he described as "a higher depth of manufacturing and a machining line for the production of injector bodies", which will be channelled to export markets such as India, Europe and  Argentina. Continental Automotive's current localisation of sourced components is 40%, a rate which is targeted to increase to about 60% by 2016.

Thanks to Anthony Nafte for providing his presentation and an additional publication for download to our AFG Members: 2Q12 Eye on Asian Economies which includes his Myanmar report The Myanmar-Thai Nexus Presentation Enjoy!

All you want to know about Myanmar – a very nice presentation by the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce…. Click here to download  (8 MB PDF - 69 Pages about economy and investment / business opportunity).

Thai Summit Group, one of the country's largest auto parts makers, will spend 9 billion baht to expand capacity at home and abroad this year in a bid to cash in on steady growth in vehicle production in Southeast Asia and China. With a presence in China, Japan, the US and India, as well as Thailand, Thai Summit expects revenue of 60 billion baht this year, up by 20% from last year.

The local automobile industry is expected to experience a boom this year, said Piangjai Kaewsuwan, president of the Thai Automotive Industry Association. Record output at or above 2.1 million units in 2012 is anticipated. In the domestic market, sales of 1.1 million vehicles are expected, while exports of Thai-built vehicles are seen hitting 1 million units.

The Industry Ministry is confident that automobile production will reach 2.1 million units this year and is predicting the country will be one of the top 10 producers of cars in the world. "The automotive industry is our core industry, generating 360 billion baht of exports a year and employing 350,000 workers. It's clear that government policy will support Thailand in becoming the top producer in Asean and one of the top 10 in the world," said Industry Minister M.R. Pongsvas Svasti.

Via NNT: BANGKOK, 7 March 2012 (NNT) – The Thai auto parts industry is looking to employ more workers in order to meet the automobile industry's production target this year. President of the Thai Autoparts Manufacturers Association Achana Limpaitoon has announced that the Thai auto parts industry is planning to hire 30,000-40,000 more employees in addition to its current staff of 450,000 as it aims to accommodate the automobile manufacturers' goal to produce 2-2.1 million cars in 2012. In order to achieve the goal, the auto part makers must raise their production capacity by 30-40% from the previous year; thus, the sector needs to increase its workforce.