Incentives from the Thai government to encourage automakers to produce fuel-efficient "eco-cars" have yielded a raft of major investments and started to change how Thais drive, experts said.
Tax breaks for automakers and car buyers were unveiled last year, as the government worried that Thailand's position as the world's biggest maker of light pickups might not be enough to guarantee the future of its auto industry.
Thailand churns out 900,000 one-tonne trucks every year -- about three-fourths of global output.
But amid soaring oil prices and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, the government expressed concern that the global market for gas-guzzling trucks could weaken as consumers turn to more fuel-efficient cars.
So last year Thailand announced incentives to encourage automakers to set up local production bases for "eco-cars" that meet the most stringent European emission standards and run on fuel with a 20 percent ethanol component.
Sales taxes on smaller cars were also slashed from Jan. 1, which sent sales booming in the first two months of the year.
"First-time car owners -- and especially motorcyclists who want to become car owners -- are cost-conscious consumers," said Surapong Paisitpatnapong, spokesman for the Federation of Thai Industries' automotive club.
"Investments in eco-car production will help grow this new segment of the country's domestic auto market while increasing exports," he said.
Seven automakers, including Toyota, Volkswagen and Tata -- have proposed eco-car projects to Thailand's Board of Investment. Four have already been approved, Surapong said.
Among the deals, Honda plans to invest 6.7 billion baht (US$213 million) to assemble eco-cars while manufacturing engines and parts here.
The new plant will produce 120,000 units a year, with about half destined for other Asian and European markets.
Most of the proposals are designed to produce cars for export. Shipments of passenger cars jumped more than 43 percent in the first two months of the year compared with last year.
But the government is also boosting domestic demand for fuel-efficient vehicles by slashing selected taxes.
"Eco-cars are going to be hot in Thailand's auto market. The lower prices for these minicars, along with high oil prices, will drive up the demand," said Nongnapat Wilepana, a Nissan dealer.
Analysts say the new investments by automakers will also give the broader economy.
"There will be more jobs for local people not only at auto assembly plants for eco-cars but also at auto part plants" supplying the new factories, said Pichai Lertsupongkit, senior vice president at Thanachart Securities.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat