by Reuters
MUMBAI/FRANKFURT - Tata Motors, India’s top vehicle maker, and Volkswagen have submitted applications to build assembly plants in Thailand, the latest car makers to answer the country’s call for fuel-efficient "eco" car factories.
Tata Motors, also India’s number three car maker, already has a venture with Thai truck-maker Thonburi to assemble pick-up trucks and other vehicles, and has said it planned to use the country as a manufacturing base to expand its sales in southeast Asia.
"Tata Motors has submitted a proposal, the details of which are confidential at this stage," a spokesman said.
The Economic Times said in an unsourced report on Friday the company, which has been named as the front-runner to buy Ford Motor’s Jaguar and Land Rover brands, would invest 8-9-billion rupees ($200m-$230m) in the plant.
Tata Motors would assemble a new low-cost car at the plant and also build a component hub, the newspaper said citing industry sources. It said Thailand would consider the proposal next week.
The spokesman for Tata Motors, which is scheduled to unveil a car priced at $2,500 next week, declined comment on the report.
Volkswagen scrapped plans to partner with Malaysian state-owned car maker Proton in November but still aims to build up a production base in the ASEAN market, and confirmed its interest in Thailand’s eco car programme.
"We have submitted an application around mid-December," a spokesman for VW said. He said that Thailand was not the only site it was considering in an economic region that also includes large markets like Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
ASEAN also groups Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
The Bangkok Post reported earlier this week that VW applied for approval to invest 27-billion Thai baht ($806,9 million), a figure the VW spokesman declined to comment on, in a factory that would build 100 000 units annually, 65% of which would be exported.
Toyota Motor, Honda and Suzuki Motor have announced plans to make fuel efficient eco cars in Thailand, which has offered tax breaks, duty exemptions and other incentives if manufacturers invest a minimum 5-billion baht ($150m) and produce 100 000 units by the fifth year of operations.
Tata Motors’ venture with Thonburi is to build up to 35 000 one-tonne pick-up trucks a year over the next three to five years.
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