Ford plans to start producing its Focus passenger cars in a new Bt15billion factory in Rayong.
With the first cars scheduled to roll out of the new plant in 2012, the USbased company plans to export up to 85 per cent of its annual out¬put to markets around the world.
The business plan was unveiled in Bangkok yesterday by Joe Hinrichs, president for the AsiaPacific and Africa. He said the new facility would support 2,200 jobs directly and as many as 8,800 jobs indirectly.
"This investment underscores our longterm commitment to Thailand. The decision to build our new plant was supported by Thailand's worldclass automotive industry, logistics and export infra¬structure," Hinrichs said.
Local loans
Financing for the new project will come from Ford's resources and loans from Thai banks. Hinrichs declined to reveal what percentage of the project was to be funded locally.
The new facility will be built in Rayong's Hemaraj Industrial Estate after Ford decided to move it out of the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate following the Supreme Administrative Court's controversial halt to many industrial projects there last year.
Dozens of largescale projects remain frozen by the court, because of companies' failure to comply with constitutional requirements con¬cerning environmental and healthimpact assessments.
Earlier this year, Ford said it might drop its plan to invest in Thailand, because of the unclear regulatory environment surrounding industrial investment in Map Ta Phut. The new plant will now be located about 10 minutes away from Auto Alliance (Thailand), or AAT, where Ford jointly produces vehi¬cles with Mazda. This will allow the company to use the same logistics infrastructure and supplier base as the AAT factory.
The new factory will have a pro¬duction capacity of 150,000 cars a year. Up to 85 per cent of the output will be for export. Ford said it expected to buy Bt26 billion worth of local components annually through its supplier network in Thailand, to support local production. Ford has 177 suppliers in Thailand, 160 of which are local companies.
Hinrichs said the new factory would be flexible and capable of producing vehicles ranging from the Ford Fiesta to passenger cars larger than the Dsegment's Ford Mondeo. It will also be capable of producing vehicles of various types, such as hatchbacks, sedans and sportutility vehicles.
"In line with our 'One Ford' plan, having a flexible manufacturing facility means that we can introduce future products that are sold globally. With a wider range of products, we also hope to increase our market share in Thailand. We will have the combined capacity of the AAT plant, which already produces the Ranger pickup and the Ford Fiesta," Hinrichs said.
"Outside China, Thailand will become our largest manufacturing facility in Asia."
While plans are set for Ford's expansion in Thailand, Hinrichs was vague about future plans for the company's factory in the Philippines. When manufacturing of the Ford Focus moves to Thailand in 2012, only the Mazda3 will be produced at Ford's Philippine facility.
Photo caption: Joe Hinrichs, right, pose next to the model of the new Bt15 billion Ford manufacutring facility situated in the Hemaraj Industrial estate. The new facility will be operational in 2012 and willl produce the Ford Focus passenger car.