BANGKOk, March 13 — Thailand’s automobile industry is strong enough to cater to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), due to be implemented at end-2015, said Industry Minister Chakramon Phasukavanich on Friday.
He said Thailand is still the leader of auto industry in this region with auto production projected in 2015 at between 2.15 – 2.2 million units due to improvement of national economy.
This could be seen from construction industry as both the public and private sectors have imported between 20 – 30 per cent more of machinery during the past two months which would help boost production in the first half of this year, said Mr Chakramon.
Touching on an announcement by General Motors late last month on its decision to withdraw participation in Thailand’s eco-car Phase 2 programme, Mr Chakramon said it would not affect the workforce industry because there is still a shortage of workers in the field.
Nine eco-car manufacturers still need a lot of workers and Thailand has cooperated with Japan in providing training development for personnel to cater to the industry, he said.
Mr Chakramon on Friday gave a welcome speech on the 110th anniversary of business operations by Mercedes-Benz in Thailand and the launching of its C300 Blue TEC Hybrid in the kingdom.
Mercedes-Benz has invested Bt650 million for the production assembly of this latest innovative car in Thailand. (MCOT online news)
