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Published on March 26, 2008

President and CEO Yeap Swee Chuan said the brighter outlook for the local economy and an improved political situation had restored public confidence and boosted spending on vehicles this year.

The company's operating result is expected to be sustainable throughout this year as the country's overall automotive production is expected to rise from 1.24 million units last year to 1.45 million units this year.

"I believe our automotive industry will continue growing at a robustly rate as we saw total vehicle production in the first two months surging 27.4 per cent year on year," he said.

"Domestic sales increased 8.4 per cent, while exports rose 39.5 per cent," he added.

He said gross profit margin would remain 6 -7 per cent, the same as last year.

He said it would see stronger revenue growth next year thanks to new orders for Ford B cars worth more than Bt700 million and new orders for plastic from Australia worth Bt150 million.

"Australian auto-makers have partly moved their production to Thailand due to benefits from free trade area pacts and cheaper production costs," he said.

It has formed a joint venture company called Minth Aapico (Thailand) with Sinoone Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese-based Minth Group.

It has invested Bt200 million to create a plant to make automobile parts.

The plant will commence operations next year.

He said the company will focus on technology exchanges to make products globally competitive in quality and price.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation