elef Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Bangkok Post 13-08-2008 Link Diesel headquarters dpa General Motors Wednesday announced plans to invest 15 billion baht - $445 million - to build a new plant to manufacture clean, green turbo-diesel engines in Thailand. "This plant will enable us to deliver to our customers the cleanest, most efficient diesel engine technology available," said Steve Carlisle, president for General Motors Southeast Asia Operations and Chevrolet Sales (Thailand). "This is crucial in these days of rising fuel prices." The Thai investment extends Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner's strategy of expanding in the Asia-Pacific region, where sales grew about 10 per cent in the first half in contrast to slumping demand in the US. GM is in danger of being overtaken as the world's top auto maker by Toyota as it closes US plants. The diesel engine plant, GM's first in Southeast Asia, is to be located along the Eastern Seaboard in Rayong province, home to most auto-industry plants. GM has been operating an assembly plant in Rayong for the past eight years. Tuesday's announcement said the top-selling firm will also upgrade its existing vehicle assembly plant The new plant, scheduled to begin production in 2010, will produce more than 100,000turbo-diesel engines annually, of 2.5-litre and 2.8-litre . Mr Wagoner, who flew in for the announcement, added that the investment in the diesel plant and expansion of existing facilities was in keeping with GM's strategy of expanding its presence in emerging markets. Wagoner said there was significant interest in the auto maker's planned sale of up to $4 billion of assets as it battles record losses and falling sales, but no deals were expected soon. General Motors Corp is struggling against an accelerating downturn in its home market and high oil prices that have hammered sales of its trucks and SUVs, triggering a $15.5 billion quarterly loss, the third-largest in its 100-year history. Chief Financial Officer Ray Young has said GM is on track to free up $15 billion in liquidity with cost-cutting, asset sales and new borrowing under a July plan intended to reassure investors that the car maker can ride out the downturn. "Frankly, we are getting some significant interest in our asset sales, including Hummer, but probably it won't be concluded imminently," GM chairman Wagoner told a news conference at the launch of a new diesel engine plant "General Motors is intent on becoming the industry leader here in Thailand and across Asean," said Wagoner. The automaker fell further behind Toyota during the second quarter as a deteriorating US market overshadowed gains overseas. GM dropped 5 per cent to 2.29 million vehicles, while Toyota posted a preliminary increase of 1.8 per cent to about 2.41 million. Demand in Asia and Latin America led GM to a 16 per cent rise outside of Europe and North America. Thailand over the past two decades has become the main hub for automobile assembly and manufacturing in the Asean region grouping Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 On the USA side, GM continues to lay off workers, sales are down...soooo where does GM get the $$$ to invest in Thailand? Sounds fishy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 I'd say you've answered your own question cav. They lay off high paid US workers and hire Thai ones for less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Moth Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 GM, on a downward trend for quite a few years. Wonder what happens to the Thai workers when GM goes bankrupt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Himmaparn Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 I'm no fan of GM, but wouldn't let my opinion of the company cloud the fact that they still have tremendous resources. They (like Ford) realize that they are up against the wall. What they do in the next year or 2 will determine whether they can remain intact or have to merge with each other or another automaker to keep on going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 GM is like the US steel mills, bloated with office workers, sucking out all the profits and not reinvesting in the company. I have seen the industries on a down trend for the past 30 years. The CEO sucks up their HUGE bonus and the company and the workers suffer. Better to let GM fade away and another manufacturer take their place as GM will never change, just another US company badly managed! IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 GM Thailand manufactured a neat mini-van/wagon/passenger van - a small one in Thailand. Would have been perfect for North America now. I don't know why these idiots don't design a car - at least in the design stage - for the world markets. The Japanese, many times, have a factory that is multi-model - they can quickly switch production to whatever is popular or selling. Too bad GM top brass couldn't figure this one out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted August 15, 2008 Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 Saturn was about as close to a "modern" factory as the auto makers could get to. Ford and GM we still operating like they were in the 1920's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted August 15, 2008 Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 Saturn was about as close to a "modern" factory as the auto makers could get to. Ford and GM we still operating like they were in the 1920's. You obviously have no clue on this subject. The Taurus plant in Atlanta was the most efficient auto plant in the US for many years running... The major problem with US auto companies is legacy costs. The newer (in America) Japanese companies do not have this problem. Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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