BANGKOK – The secretary-general of the Board of Investment (BoI) said that Great Wall Motors (GWM) of China that will take over the plant of General Motors (GM) in Rayong province will product vehicles with higher technology and use Thailand as a base for exports to Southeast Asia and Australia.
BoI secretary-general Duangjai Asawachintachit sent her message via the Facebook page, BoI News, referring to the report of GM’s plan to stop producing Chevrolet vehicles in Thailand and sell its plant in Rayong to GWM this year.
GWM would expand its investment in Thailand and use the country as its base for exports to Southeast Asian nations and Australia. “There will be investment in Thailand. Workers will be employed and the personnel of the company will be trained to improve their skills,” Ms Duangjai said.
She assured that BoI would cooperate with both companies to make the transition smooth and develop industries in Thailand, especially the automotive industry that would apply higher technology to produce modern vehicles.
Ms Duangjai said that in Thailand GWM would produce 100,000 pickup trucks, sports utility vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEV) per year. Half the outputs will be exported to many destinations including Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. She expected GWM production to start in the first quarter of 2022.