Chinese auto maker Great Wall Motor (GWM)is getting ready to start assembling vehicles in Thailand.
It recently staged a “full-ownership” ceremony at its assembly plant in Rayong, which was purchased from General Motors (GM), which decided to leave the Thai market to cut losses.
Great Wall Motor plans to carry out renovations as well as system upgrades at the plant to transform it into a “smart factory”.
The full ownership of the Rayong plant will strengthen GWM’s international presence in Thailand and ASEAN region.
According to GWM, its latest plant in Thailand represents a major milestone in implementing company’s globalization strategy “with the goal to be ahead of the trends by bringing smart technologies to the automotive industry and enhance employees’ skills and efficiency”.
GWM says that the facility would become its first full-process vehicle plant in Southeast Asia, and it is set to be an important hub for the right-hand driving vehicle productions in the region.
Elliot Zhang, president of Great Wall Motor ASEAN & Thailand, said, “Thailand has strong fundamentals as a leader in the automotive industry and GWM sees great potentials of the country as it is the largest car manufacturer in Southeast Asia and ranked as the top 10 globally. Thailand also has talented and skillful labor force and resourceful manufacturing facilities with high quality automotive suppliers.”
“After our 9-month journey in Thailand, taking the full ownership of Rayong plant is another memorable and significant milestone of GWM,” he added. “As a Global Mobility Technology Company, this event reinforces our goals in bringing our vision, expertise, best-in-class products, technologies, and services to serve Thai consumers in order to enhance their lives with innovations and technologies.”
Greg Li, Vice President of ASEAN Manufacturing, added “We are excited with this key milestone and ready to set up the Rayong plant to become a Smart Factory, following GWM’s global standards. The plant will be renovated and undergoing system upgrades to be fully equipped with innovative production system and technologies to maximize an operational efficiency and effectiveness. We aim to build Thailand as GWM production base for right-hand driving of new energy vehicles in ASEAN region. This GWM’s move will also create more jobs and further enhance advanced automotive skills to Thai labor force.”
