Thailand Promoting Itself As The Detroit Of Asia

[george]

Thailand promoting itself as the Detroit of Asia

WHEN was the last time you saw a car built in Thailand running on a road in Australia? I suspect that many of you have answered that you have never seen one.

You don't know how wrong you are, because last year close to 60,000 Thai vehicles were sold in Australia, with even more expected this year. That's right, 60,000 vehicles a year are coming from Thailand to Oz.

After a fascinating visit to the Bangkok Motor Show a few weeks ago, I spent some time talking to experts on the fast-growing automotive industry in one of our neighbours to the north.

Thailand is promoting itself as the Detroit of Asia and has major plans to further expand in the next few years.

Thailand is much more than a vehicle assembler. Many of the vehicle parts are manufactured there, including major body pressings.

Utes are currently the big thing in Thailand, with most of the major players on the Australian market importing products from there. Toyota, Holden, Ford and Mitsubishi all bring in utes, as does Mazda. Nissan sourced its Navaras from there for a while, though its currently bringing them in from Japan.

It's not just utes, though. Holden Zafira is built in Thailand, as are some Honda Accord and Civic models.

Quality is generally as high as that of vehicles built in other countries, with the Japanese makers keeping a tight reign on quality control.

Australian engineering expertise has been used by the Thai vehicle industry in many important areas. This is happening either by an exchange of engineers between auto makers in the two countries, or by enterprising Aussies working on a freelance basis.

No prestige makes are imported to Australia from Thailand at this stage and that's likely to be the case for some time to come. However, such major players as BMW and Mercedes-Benz do have Thai-built cars.

Altogether a fascinating exercise and one that shows what can be done when an under-developed country makes a positive decision to become one of the major players on the world's industrial scene.

--The Sunday Mail, AU 2004-05-16

[wow_woww]

Can someone answer the obvious?, why don't we saw any new model Holdens on Thai roads?, and please no one say you do, as I live here and the only Holdens I've ever seen is some old Toranas, Kingswooods/Belmonts, and a couple of old model Commodores.

[dtoodnut]

The Thais surpass everybody but Japan and Germany when it comes to punctuality.

Manufacturers, maids, even sweet Isan Provincial gals always do things on time. They can copy anything, make a beautiful sculpture from junk, or turn a prettyboy into a Lucy Lee. An old truck diesel ends up on a longtail boat. They can fix anything too. I'll bet they build world class autos, like the Camrys and Accords made in Ohio. I'll bet they can even build a good Chevy there (YES, even a Chevy!). ANYTHING is possible in Thailand. Capitalism is what I see in Bangkok's Chinatown, NOT this thing going on in the west these days. They are sticklers for quality control, and style and this is why it is the #1 "sopping" stop for Asian Ladies.

[dtoodnut]

what is a holden?

[taxexile]

a holden is an australian variation of a chevrolet, and seeing as chevrolet has a presence in thailand, i doubt if the parent company (gm) would want holdens to be marketed here too.

why the thais should want to think of themselves as the detroit of asia is beyond me, as detroit has not produced an automobile to be proud of for many years.

better to call rayong the bavaria of asia.

[KevinN]

toodnut says "They are sticklers for quality control"

Boy you can sure tell he don't live here or at least has done some very limited buying of Thai built junk, you can not even buy pipe fittings that have threads that fit correctly,electrical fittings that function properly ,any building products that are of any kind of quality,electrical appliances that work correctly, They do have quality control inspectors,but they ain't sure what their job means.

To a Thai,"half assed is good, just do it good enough to get by"and that goes for stone masons to car mechanics. I have been here for a number of years and have yet to see any quality workmanship or chraftmanship in anything done here.

I bought some insulation last week thay had quality control tags on the plastic bags and when I opened them,the foil envelopes were open on most of the insulation batts. The new plugins that I bought would not make connection with the plugs when inserted or you could not get then in or the plugs would fall out.

On the subject of quality control I could go on for ever,but those that live here and have done any kind of work or repair know what I am talking about. Kind of reminds me of the quality of the japan products of the early 50s.to the 70s.

[pnustedt]

Kind of reminds me of the quality of the japan products of the early 50s.to the 70s.

Or HK or Korea - but look at them now. I don't think Thailand will take too long to catch up.

I was surprised last week when looking at the new Nikon D70 camera to discover that it is "Made In Thailand". Good products can be, and are, made in Thailand.

[chingy_]

The Thais surpass everybody but Japan and Germany when it comes to punctuality.

Manufacturers, maids, even sweet Isan Provincial gals always do things on time. They can copy anything, make a beautiful sculpture from junk, or turn a prettyboy into a Lucy Lee. An old truck diesel ends up on a longtail boat. They can fix anything too. I'll bet they build world class autos, like the Camrys and Accords made in Ohio. I'll bet they can even build a good Chevy there (YES, even a Chevy!). ANYTHING is possible in Thailand. Capitalism is what I see in Bangkok's Chinatown, NOT this thing going on in the west these days. They are sticklers for quality control, and style and this is why it is the #1 "sopping" stop for Asian Ladies.

yes dtoodnut they are good at what they do, if i were you i wouldn't rush to trust the product they built, use today throw away tomorow, you ever wonder why they call made in the USA/JAPAN/GERMANY/ETC.. and they left thailand out.

[taxexile]

Good products can be, and are, made in Thailand

only when the company is foriegn owned.

there will never be good quality control, nor any quality products, until consumers have the right in law to return stuff that breaks,doesn't work or explodes within the first year of use and have it fixed or replaced at the manufacturers or sellers expense. ie. guarantees that mean something.

why should they bother doing it properly when they know they can get away with doing it in a half-arsed way.

no responsibility or no respect for the customers from the high ups in the thai companies.

[maerim]

To a Thai,"half assed is good, just do it good enough to get by"and that goes for stone masons to car mechanics. I have been here for a number of years and have yet to see any quality workmanship or chraftmanship in anything done here.

May I invite you watch my Mitsubishi being serviced the next time it's due I for one have nothing but praise for the standard of workmanship from these people.

Before any smart Alec replies yes I do know what I'm talking about as I used to install the machines that actually made cars.

As to the pipe fitting I assume you are not using superheated steam in your house so just put a bit more PTFE on the thread. Unless of course you want to import G F fittings.

[KevinN]

Well you might have installed the machines that actually made cars,I always thot that they were assembled by people working on the line.

But what ever,,next time they service your car,watch them try to blow your air filter out,they blow from the outside in,force the heavy grit right thru the filter element,I never let them put the filter back in,,always a new filter,and you must have then grease the ball joints and steering gear components,they will not do it if you do not insist,and if your coolant is low,they add tap water instead of anti freeze 50/50 mix,try to tell you that you do not need anti freeze,and this was at the Nissan dealership.anti freeze is necessary for the corrosion and electrolysis prevention.

Pipe threads in Thailand are all cut straight,like machine threads,pipe threads are cut on the taper to seal without bottoming,if they bottom they will not seal,has nothing to with high pressure steam,and anyone that knows his ass from a hole in the ground knows that 1 wrap of Teflon tape is all that is needed and that the tape will not hold pressure,maybe you better go to school and learn pipe fitting before you try to tell me how to do a job that I was trained to do. I have been a pipe fitter and was also a USCG licensed chief engineer with 10,000 hp motors and 17,500 hp steam ticket.

[thaigene2]

Well quality workmanship notwithstanding..

I'd like to point out that the only reason this "Detroit of the East" can exist is because Toyota, Honda, etc, have set up shop here because of the protectionist pricing offered to them by the Thai Govt.

Ever wonder why a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla built here sells for 50% more money than it would in the West - even when that car in the West was made in Japan and shipped all the bloody way over? One word (two actually) Protectionist Duties.

Keep Thai duties on auto imports high, and Toyota and Honda will be happy to lay out the capital required for the factories. The govt guarantees to keep duties high for a few more years (until the WTO starts breathing down its back) and that means prices of cars produced here can be artificially inflated, because you have NO OTHER CHOICE. Pay it or take taxis to get around (which is what I do). Even an 8 or 10 year old car here can be more expensive than a new one in Canada or the US.

Meanwhile, some rich Thai partner with these foreign automakers (who probably brings little more than 'connections' into the deal) will get even richer, while the rest of us wonder how we can ever afford $22,000 USD for a car in a country where the majority of people (locals anyway) can't earn that amount in ten years.

Thaksinomics? Is this Rayong's "One Tambon One Product"?

[englishoak]

As far as quality is concerned thai products seem to fall into two catagories. Very cheap and bad quality or fairly cheap and inferior quality. That is why other makes although expensive still sell pretty well here. Most Thai's will tell you that they even check if it's a Sony ( made in japan) before they buy. They will catch up but without return of bad goods or customer service it's a long road.

The govt guarantees to keep duties high for a few more years (until the WTO starts breathing down its back) and that means prices of cars produced here can be artificially inflated, because you have NO OTHER CHOICE. Pay it or take taxis to get around (which is what I do). Even an 8 or 10 year old car here can be more expensive than a new one in Canada or the US

Oh how true thaigene2

wonder how we can ever afford $22,000 USD for a car in a country where the majority of people (locals anyway) can't earn that amount in ten years.

It's a major puzzle to me how come there are so many cars on the roads here? I mean it's just not feasible to buy a car at those prices and get a return. With the wages here so low it's quite astonishing to see a Merc or a BMW which you know costs a fortune sitting outside a house that probably cost 50% of the price.

One of my Thai relatives is quite high up in a Thai international bank but he gets about 40,000 bht a month. equivalent in the uk would be about 250,000 bht pm It's considered very good money here but hardly a wage to run an exec car, he has a BMW 5 series and I just don't get it. By the way he would'nt dream of buying a Thai made car as it's got no credibility and the quality is mai dee!

Lending here is out of control. Example a friend earns 20,000 bht a month pretty good eh? the bank lends her 1million bht to buy a car at 12,000 bht pay back a month. Not sure over what period or the rates but???? thats 7 years at 0% I reckon it's close to 10 years. That leaves 8000 bht a month to live on which is about doable but little room for repairs or other expenses let alone inflation. I tell you I just don't get it.

[KevinN]

I bought [as some of you know] a 5KW chinese made gen set for power to my home during long power outages during monsoon when I need to run sump pumps,deep freeze and the like.

So to hook it up I needed to make connections to disconnect my home from the grid, I bought a new 60 amp knife switch dis-connect,the same as is on two other power supplys to my home, made the safety cover so that the main has to be out before you can put the gen online.

Well everything was in and tested and worked perfect. Then the other morning the power was out and my wife couldn't make coffee,I told her to put the gen online,Good test..

The house power didn't come on,,went out and checked power,got it to the new knife switch,but nothing out,,so took it all apart,,the knife switch has 6 holes in the back where the screws that connect the brass fittings to the ceramic were plugged with an insulating clay and things seemed to be loose,drilled out the clay and tightened up the screws and remounted,and now everything works again..

There is no quality control here and no pride of workmanship, and no guarentee,and no customer service on anything, so the advise about returns to dealers is a real laugh,once you put your money down,you have bought the item.

[MadFrankie]

Thailand promoting itself as the Detroit of Asia

WHEN was the last time you saw a car built in Thailand running on a road in Australia? I suspect that many of you have answered that you have never seen one.

You don't know how wrong you are, because last year close to 60,000 Thai vehicles were sold in Australia, with even more expected this year. That's right, 60,000 vehicles a year are coming from Thailand to Oz.

After a fascinating visit to the Bangkok Motor Show a few weeks ago, I spent some time talking to experts on the fast-growing automotive industry in one of our neighbours to the north.

Thailand is promoting itself as the Detroit of Asia and has major plans to further expand in the next few years.

Thailand is much more than a vehicle assembler. Many of the vehicle parts are manufactured there, including major body pressings.

Utes are currently the big thing in Thailand, with most of the major players on the Australian market importing products from there. Toyota, Holden, Ford and Mitsubishi all bring in utes, as does Mazda. Nissan sourced its Navaras from there for a while, though its currently bringing them in from Japan.

It's not just utes, though. Holden Zafira is built in Thailand, as are some Honda Accord and Civic models.

Quality is generally as high as that of vehicles built in other countries, with the Japanese makers keeping a tight reign on quality control.

Australian engineering expertise has been used by the Thai vehicle industry in many important areas. This is happening either by an exchange of engineers between auto makers in the two countries, or by enterprising Aussies working on a freelance basis.

No prestige makes are imported to Australia from Thailand at this stage and that's likely to be the case for some time to come. However, such major players as BMW and Mercedes-Benz do have Thai-built cars.

Altogether a fascinating exercise and one that shows what can be done when an under-developed country makes a positive decision to become one of the major players on the world's industrial scene.

--The Sunday Mail, AU 2004-05-16

detroit of asia.. what a load of log.. Japans stoped making cars has it???

[KevinN]

I haven't been down around the sea ports here, but are they loading the big jap car carrier ships out of Thailand bound out for the states like Korea and Japan?,

I have seen lots of them while at sea and also upon their arrival in the US ports.

Gonna have to check that.

[KenUdon]

The Thais surpass everybody but Japan and Germany when it comes to punctuality

What??? Are you serious?

They are sticklers for quality control, and ......

Maybe an idea to actually COME to Thailand for a while before making these sort of comments, because you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

Totally unbelievable!

[MadFrankie]

The Thais surpass everybody but Japan and Germany when it comes to punctuality

What??? Are you serious?

They are sticklers for quality control, and ......

Maybe an idea to actually COME to Thailand for a while before making these sort of comments, because you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

Totally unbelievable!

[KevinN]

For sure,,maybe the Thai that live in Anapolis Md. are punctual but they must be at least 2 generation there.

Maybe someday he will come over here and recieve the shock of his life,,or maybe he just drink to much and has been here,he thinks, but ain't to sure where he was.

[astral]

Thailand promoting itself as the Detroit of Asia?????

Australian engineering expertise has been used by the Thai vehicle industry in many important areas.

Hoist on your own petard!!

To become the Detroit of Asia, the Thai's first have to DESIGN a car.

Any idiot can put toether a kit of parts.

Edited May 27, 2004 by astral