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Via Bangkok Post:  VIENTIANE : Higher labour costs and a labour shortage in Thailand have prompted Japanese auto parts maker Asahi Tec Corporation (ATC) to build its new overseas factory in Laos. The 1.6-billion-baht plant in Savannakhet province will manufacture aluminium die casting parts. "The labour shortage and high cost of expansion are the main problems for the expansion plan in Thailand, so Savannakhet is our new investment destination," said ATC director and chairman Shoichiro Irimajiri. ATC's four factories in Thailand, which produce aluminium and iron casting parts, have already reached full capacity. A new company, BMM Asahi Tec, has been formed through an equal joint venture with leading Lao company BMM Group, which is involved in property development and duty-free retailing. The factory will be located in the Savan-Seno Special Economic Zone, which is expected to be a thriving hub of trade and services in the Greater Mekong Subregion. BMM Asahi Tec plans to ...

via Bangkok Post The government is considering collecting contributions from car makers to raise money to establish a centre for testing and research development. Contributions of 500 to 1,000 baht for each vehicle sold are being considered, according to Phayungsak Chatsuthipol, a member of the state's Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development (SCRF). Mr Phayungsak said SCRF chairman Virabongsa Ramangura has instructed the Thailand Automotive Institute to study the feasibility of gathering money from car firms to fund the centre's establishment. The institute has sought financial support from SCRF for its plan to set up the centre at a cost of 8 billion baht.

[via THE NATION ] Mitsubishi Motors has announced a Bt1-billion investment aimed at raising its annual Thai auto production capacity to 510,000 units per annum by the end of this year. The expansion is in line with the carmaker's goal of having exported an aggregate 3 million vehicles from Thailand within the next three to four years. The company is also in the process of transferring some of its research and development (R&D) units from its Japanese headquarters to Thailand to serve the Asean Economic Community (AEC), which comes into effect in 2015. Osamu Masuko, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Corp, said during his visit to Thailand this week that to celebrate the 2 millionth vehicle produced by the company in the Kingdom, it was investing Bt1 billion in increasing local production capacity to 510,000 units by the end of the year. The current annual capacity is 460,000 vehicles. Thailand has been promoted by the parent company as one of Mitsubishi's significant gl...

Suzuki Thailand will increase capacity from 60,000 vehicles / year to 100,000 based on a sales forecast of 60,000 vehicles for 2013. So far Suzuki has sold 50,000 Swift in Thailand - a great success for the youngest car company in Thailand.

Via Bangkok Post : The Thai government delegation ended its visits to Sweden and Belgium with the announcement that the Thai-EU free trade agreement will be concluded in less than two years, as part of Thailand's commitment towards free trade and competitiveness enhancement. Olarn Chaipravat, an economic adviser to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and chief of the Thailand Trade Representative, will head the Thai negotiating team. Aside from Singapore, which is the first Asean country to reach an agreement with the European Union, followed by Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are set to start negotiations soon. The Thai Cabinet on December 4 gave the go-ahead for FTA negotiations, despite public opposition amid fears that alcohol and pharmaceuticals would be included in the deal. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said here that to ensure public support, the government had promised not to put economic returns above the expense of human health. ...

Attention grabbing headline and interesting story from via The Australian : THIS year Indonesia could pass Thailand to become the largest vehicle market, by unit sales, in Southeast Asia. That's no small thing, given Thailand has edged into the world's top 10 vehicle producers and Indonesian output, at the growth rate of the past five years, will get there by 2020. The potential of this market for Australian components makers was acknowledged, belatedly, when the Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers sent its first delegation to Jakarta in November. Industry and Innovation Minister Greg Combet has recently appointed former Ford Indonesia president Will Angove to the new position of automotive supplier advocate with a brief to help auto components suppliers "compete in new markets". Indonesia also boasts the most active volcanoes in ASEAN Less innovatively, Mr Combet's headline task for Mr Angove is getting local fleet managers to buy more local vehicles....

The planned expansion of the 110-kilometre road motorway linking Thailand to the proposed Dawei deep-sea port project in Myanmar has been postponed. The Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTTPP) said expanding the motorway from four lanes to eight on the Thai side of the border is unnecessary for the time being.