SAIC Motor-CP Co, the Chinese-Thai car maker, is planning to invest 30-40 billion baht in a second Thai plant after its first plant in Rayong rolled out the MG6 1.8-litre saloon yesterday.
SAIC Motor-CP displays the MG6 1.8-litre saloon at its Rayong plant yesterday.
The company has already acquired 500 rai of land in Chon Buri for the plant, which is expected to be ready by 2018.
President Wu Huan said that once the second plant becomes operational, the company will move car manufacturing there from the first plant, which will be designated to produce auto parts or powertrains.
SAIC Motor-CP is a joint venture between Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and CP Group.
It is investing 9 billion baht in the first phase for the plant in Rayong's Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate. SAIC holds a 51% stake in the venture, with CP holding the rest.
Production capacity will be 50,000 vehicles a year, mainly for the well-known British brand MG, which the Chinese firm bought in 2005, and Maxus Datong, bought by SAIC in 2010.
The second plant will enable SAIC Motor-CP's production to rise to between 150,000 and 200,000 vehicles a year.
SAIC is the largest car maker in China, with annual production and sales of 4 million vehicles and 60,000 exports.
It operates four car brands, with plans to introduce Roewe, MG Rover and Yuejin, and has six plants across China and one in Britain.
SAIC Motor-CP aims to export from Thailand to right-hand-drive countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Britain.
Its Rayong plant yesterday officially rolled out the MG6. Prices for the saloon will be made available to the public on June 19. Delivery is expected next month.
The company expects to sell 2,000 MG6s this year, mainly in the Thai market.
“The MG6 is just our beginning,” said SAIC Motor-CP board chairman Thanakorn Seriburi. “Our automotive business aims to expand production in the future to cover MG’s sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks and Maxus Datong’s commercial vans.”
According to Mr Thanakorn, the company plans to produce 14,000 MG vehicles under three models — MG3, MG5 and MG6 — next year and start exporting to Malaysia in 2015.
Under its three-year plan from 2014-16, SAIC Motor-CP has set an ambitious target to take a 10% share of Thailand's automotive market and launch another 6-7 models in the kingdom.
SAIC Motor-CP has 15 dealers and service centres while planning to expand the number to cover 30 locations nationwide this year.
SAIC Motor-CP is one of 10 car makers including five existing eco-car manufacturers that have recently applied for the second phase of the previous government's eco-car scheme.
The 10 projects are set to produce 1.58 million eco-cars with an investment about 100 billion baht higher than the combined outlay from the five eco-car manufacturers in the first phase.
The existing five manufacturers are prepared to invest 86.8 billion baht for the production of 753,000 eco-cars, while the five newcomers are prepared to spend 52 billion to roll out 828,000 vehicles.
Mr Wu said the company cannot disclose any investment and expansion details until the Board of Investment (BoI) approves SAIC Motor-CP’s eco-car proposal.
Kasikorn Research Center forecasts the second phase of the eco-car scheme could generate annual production of at least 500,000 vehicles because the BoI requires automakers to produce 100,000 units a year of their model by the fourth year of their eco-car operation.