• 
• 

Published on March 14, 2008

China's automotive industry has grown rapidly. It produced 8.88 million units last year, up from 2 million in 2000, with full government support and intending to become the world's largest manufacturer by 2012.

It is now the third-largest auto-maker, with a 10.5-per-cent share in the global market, following Japan with 16.6 per cent and the United States with 16.3 per cent.

Hence, it is difficult for Thai operators to compete with Chinese auto-makers that take advantage of lower production costs, a bigger market size and full support from the government, said senior researcher Choosak Ratanachaichan.

"Instead of competing with Chinese auto-makers in the international market, we should cooperate with them in the same way Japanese auto firms use Thailand as a production base for their exports worldwide," he said.

Although Japanese auto-makers have invested in China, they will not place less importance on Thailand, because of the Kingdom's strong clusters and supply chains in the automotive and auto-parts sectors.

"Our potential clusters will be key to attracting Chinese auto-makers to become our business partners, because it would take them many years to make their clusters as strong as ours," he said.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation