Blog > A dark horse in the Asian automotive industry
Author: Jeff (Junfei) Wu
When I tell many people that Thailand is the third-largest car exporter in Asia, behind Japan and South Korea, they are amazed. The fact is Thailand is expected to produce 1.8 million vehicles next year, with over 1 million headed for exportation.
Over the past decade, the hills and valleys east of Bangkok have been transformed into auto assembly plants and factories for their suppliers. General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Honda have all set up manufacturing bases in Thailand.
What people find worrying though is that hostility between supporters and opponents of the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has led to long-lasting political turmoil. Last month, a range of foreign governments expressed concern about the country’s stability.
Political risks are not being ignored and it does not mean that foreign investors will flee from the country. The truth is, due to the increasingly higher labour cost in China, a number of Western investors – including automotive companies - are moving factories to Thailand from China. In the automotive industry, an average workers’ wage is about one-third lower in Thailand than China.
26th Jul 10
Leave a Comment
Your comments will be moderated before being displayed above. Please note that we will not display your email address, but we might use it to email you back. Links may be included in your comments but HTML is not permitted. Fields marked * are required.