Toyota to open new Thai plant, sees local vehicle market shrinking 16% in 2013

Planned opening of Toyota's new Thai plant in the third quarter will help the automaker boost its local output to nearly 1 million units per year, in the expectation of long-term growth in the country's automotive market.

Toyota plans to invest 12 billion baht (USD403 million) to build a second plant at the Gateway industrial park in Thailand's Chachoengsao province to produce environmentally friendly cars, as well as vehicles for export, reports the Bangkok Post. The new factory, an expansion of the automaker's existing plant at Gateway, is expected to be fully operational by the third quarter of this year and will help boost Toyota's annual capacity at Gateway to 300,000 units a year, up from 230,000 currently, according to Kyoichi Tanada, president of Toyota Motor Thailand, Toyota's local unit. Tanada also said that Toyota's first Thai facility at Samrong in Samut Prakan province recently began assembly of the Hiace Commuter high-roof van, involving a capital investment of THB1.5 billion. Toyota also plans to substitute its imports into Thailand with output handled by subsidiary Toyota Auto Works, formerly Thai Auto Works. With 300 employees and one shift a day initially, the plant's production capacity will subsequently be increased by two shifts to 18,000 units annually by mid-year. Toyota aims to expand its network of showrooms and service centres in Thailand from 357 locations currently to 400 by the end of this year, with the number of Toyota Sure showrooms, its certified used-car outlets, to be increased from 85 to 100.