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China-Thai venture to produce NGV cars for ASEAN
Yantai Shuchi Group, one of China’s top five carmakers,
has announced a multi-billion baht investment to produce natural gas for
vehicles (NGV) in Thailand for export to the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
Marking the start of a long-term commitment, the Group last Wednesday signed
a memorandum of understanding with bus services operator Siri Project
Construction and PS Natural Gas to produce the first batch of 300
NGV-powered vehicles worth Bt2 billion to serve the southern bus routes.
Yantai Shuchi Vehicle managing director Yang Zhang said the company is a
30-70 joint venture between the Chinese government and the private sector.
The firm is ranked in China’s top five makers of NGV vehicles and is the top
producer of such vehicles in eastern China’s Shandong province.
To date, the company has produced 120 models of NGV vehicles exported to
Europe, Japan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
He said the company has chosen to invest in Thailand because of the
Kingdom’s growth potential for domestic NGV car usage, on top of the fact
that Thailand is a significant auto-parts industry base in Southeast Asia.
The company plans to invest up to US$1 billion in Thailand to produce NGV
buses and passenger vehicles and to operate NGV service stations along with
car leasing services, he said.
Managing Director Piyapat Temcharoen of the Siri Construction Project said
he hopes that the Thai government will honour its announced intention to
reduce import tariffs for completely-built units of NGV vehicles from the
current 40 per cent to zero within two years.
In any case, the Yantai Group is looking to start assembling NGV vehicles at
a plant in Ratchaburi or Nakhon Pathom.
Mr. Piyapat said he has confidence in the quality of Yantai’s products,
which are cheaper than those made in Europe and Japan.
Meanwhile, Daimler Chrysler Thailand said it has invested in the assembly of
an NGV car model in Thailand because the firm believes in the growth
potential of NGV vehicles in this country, company spokesman Chatwithai
Tantraporn said last week.
Daimler Chrysler’s E200 NGT is due for commercial launch in Thailand by the
end of this year and the company is awaiting terms of reference for NGV
public buses to be announced by the Bangkok Mass Transport Authority (BMTA)
and the Transport Company before making a further business decision. (TNA)
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