Thailand's War With The Uk

[chiangmaikelly]

I knowwwwwwww, my point was the UK provided the best piston engine for the job at the time.

Though the fuel injected inverted V12 of the opposition was cool.

Since you brought it up what is your point relative to Thai auto production?

[theblether]

We need KerryK to give us the benefit of his wisdom here......

[JimsKnight]

Don't feed The Troll

Thread after thread we hear about how much superior the West is to Thailand but have one word about how Thailand is better than an ex colonial power and you call me a troll?

You are sick mate always going after the UK. Do you have a problem with them. Seem a bit obsessed maybe similar to me and those old guy threads

He's just another self-hating, anti-european white guy who likes to big-up Thailand at any chance they get.

Not only are his kind the lowest of the low, they are also hypocrites typically.

Probably a baby-boomer who draws on his tax-funded old-age pension each month...

[chiangmaikelly]

Don't feed The Troll

Thread after thread we hear about how much superior the West is to Thailand but have one word about how Thailand is better than an ex colonial power and you call me a troll?

You are sick mate always going after the UK. Do you have a problem with them. Seem a bit obsessed maybe similar to me and those old guy threads

He's just another self-hating, anti-european white guy who likes to big-up Thailand at any chance they get.

Not only are his kind the lowest of the low, they are also hypocrites typically.

Probably a baby-boomer who draws on his tax-funded old-age pension each month...

In your mind. Perhaps you could quote something I said that was anti European or anti anyone ? Nope. You have not bothered to read the thread.

[transam]

I knowwwwwwww, my point was the UK provided the best piston engine for the job at the time.

Though the fuel injected inverted V12 of the opposition was cool.

Since you brought it up what is your point relative to Thai auto production?

Weeeeeeeell, hmmmmmmmmmm, nothing, BUT my point is Thailand has not developed anything. They are assembling other folks stuff, your UK WAR is crap. YOUR Thai engineering stuff is crap. Who designs the roads, oooop's think the Germans are owed some cash for that, who built the airport, who designs and builds anything. ??????????

Sorry but you are going on about a country that is doing stuff for OTHERS because of cheap labour, plain and simple, same as India and China. China is now moving on with folk having a better lif,e BUT l think manufacturing will move back to home lands in the future as these countries get nearer to the wests standard of life and costs are put on the west.

[chiangmaikelly]

I knowwwwwwww, my point was the UK provided the best piston engine for the job at the time.

Though the fuel injected inverted V12 of the opposition was cool.

Since you brought it up what is your point relative to Thai auto production?

Weeeeeeeell, hmmmmmmmmmm, nothing, BUT my point is Thailand has not developed anything. They are assembling other folks stuff, your UK WAR is crap. YOUR Thai engineering stuff is crap. Who designs the roads, oooop's think the Germans are owed some cash for that, who built the airport, who designs and builds anything. ??????????

Sorry but you are going on about a country that is doing stuff for OTHERS because of cheap labour, plain and simple, same as India and China. China is now moving on with folk having a better lif,e BUT l think manufacturing will move back to home lands in the future as these countries get nearer to the wests standard of life and costs are put on the west.

As I remember it that is what the US said about Japan in the 1950's. The first Japanese cars were really crap. I think they also said that about Japanese steel. Actually they said it about anything made in Japan. At first Made In Japan, meant cheap and crappy. My first Japanese Honda was really crap too I bought it in 1960. My Enfield was a lot better.

[arthurwait]

We need KerryK to give us the benefit of his wisdom here......

If only if he was around somewhere.

[rgs2001uk]

We need KerryK to give us the benefit of his wisdom here......

If only if he was around somewhere.

Dont forget his alter ego, Marky.

Think he is too busy shagging ladyboys at the moment.

[MAJIC]

Drop the import tax and see how good the industry really is then.

Probably one of the biggest factors involved here, has nothing to do with Thai Quality.

Good point, the Thai government is brighter than the UK government. I have thought that for years.

The most ridiculous, ill conceived comparison, I have ever heard, I think you have been in the Heat and Humidity for too many years.

[Mark1971]

OP

What is the point of this thread?

The reasons Automotive Manufacturing is increasing in Thailand are quite simple.

1. South East Asia is growing rapidly.

2. Japanese Yen is too strong, pushing low cost manufacturing overseas, while maintaining core Engineering skills in Japan.

3. Thailand has prohibitively high import taxes on imported vehicles.

4. Japanese like coming on business trips to Thailand, as the enviroment, weather & female companionship are better than competitors ie. China, India, Indonesia.

5. Thailand has a young, cheap, low skill workforce readily available.

None of these things are related to the UK, or UK Automotive Manufacturing.

Additionally none of them are anything to be particularly proud of.

UK Manufacturing is 10x as skilled & 3x as efficient as Thai manufacturing, it has to be due to the high wages & cost of living.

When Thailand has a workforce which has 1/2 the skill base of the UK you may have a point.

[Mark1971]

I knowwwwwwww, my point was the UK provided the best piston engine for the job at the time.

Though the fuel injected inverted V12 of the opposition was cool.

Since you brought it up what is your point relative to Thai auto production?

Weeeeeeeell, hmmmmmmmmmm, nothing, BUT my point is Thailand has not developed anything. They are assembling other folks stuff, your UK WAR is crap. YOUR Thai engineering stuff is crap. Who designs the roads, oooop's think the Germans are owed some cash for that, who built the airport, who designs and builds anything. ??????????

Sorry but you are going on about a country that is doing stuff for OTHERS because of cheap labour, plain and simple, same as India and China. China is now moving on with folk having a better lif,e BUT l think manufacturing will move back to home lands in the future as these countries get nearer to the wests standard of life and costs are put on the west.

As I remember it that is what the US said about Japan in the 1950's. The first Japanese cars were really crap. I think they also said that about Japanese steel. Actually they said it about anything made in Japan. At first Made In Japan, meant cheap and crappy. My first Japanese Honda was really crap too I bought it in 1960. My Enfield was a lot better.

The first Japanese cars weren't the best, nor were the first Korean cars.

Both of these countries now excel at the design / engineering / manufacturing of automotive & other products.

It is now 2012 & I am unaware of any globally successful product which has been designed / engineered & manufactured by Thais.

[MAJIC]

There are a number of issues the OP misses, fails to address or simply can't get his head around.

The first is the huge import tariffs applied to Automotive imports in Thailand - So where the UK is an open market and the UK's Automotive industry is not subsidised and not protected by the government the same cannot be said of the Thai Automotive industry.

Secondly there is a world wide overproduction of mass produced budget vehicles - Sales of UK budget vehicles have risen this year, but nobody expects that to continue - Expectation is that lower demand in Europe and greater international competition will reduce sales of Mass Produced vehicles in the UK. Of course these same impacts will hit Thailand's automotive industry, but you'll not find it being discussed in the local press or the BoI circulars.

On the flip side, the UK's luxury Automotive industry is booming, with production at Jaguar, RangeRover/LandRover flat out and long long waiting lists for other top end motors. All of which have a high content of UK Engineering and design. The UK's dominance of the racing Automotive industry needs no explanation.

Thailand has no luxury car maker, little if any Thai engineering or design content in any vehicle produced in Thailand and the only contribution to the Automotive Racing industry that Thailand makes is go faster stickers plastered on Toyotas driven by people who can't see over the steering wheel.

And then there is the blindingly obvious fact that while Thailand has been very successful at importing mass manufacture of Automotive vehicles (well done Thailand) there is next to no Thai engineering or design content in these vehicles AND as a matter of observation there is next to no other Thai engineering industry.

Compare this to the UK, where as mentioned there is a broad spectrum Automotive industry (with significant UK engineering and design content) PLUS a host of other industries that are simply not present in Thailand - Aerospace, Defence Technology, Communications Technology, Power Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Oil and Gas Engineering.

Plus a substantial research and development infrastructure both privately funded research centres and university department led research.

But yes, Thailand has done very well importing other people's manufacturing - Thailand has failed to build an engineering expertise on the back of this and those who are in charge of developing these industries further in Thailand are probably still grimacing from the effect of the floods last year.

Having read the BoI report on the car industry, perhaps it might be worth writing to them to ask how many companies close shop and went elsewhere after the floods of last year.

Bet your bottom dollar, Toyota, Honda et al, took note of the floods last year and the Thai government's lack of planning (smoke and mirrors) bet your bottom dollar they are working on Plan B....... Though they might not have told the BoI about it just yet.

GH said, "Thailand has no luxury car maker,"

Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co., Ltd. Began To Assemble Chassis For Commercial Vehicles At Plant No. 1. Subsequently, It Expanded Its Operation To Cover The Assembly Of Mercedes-benz Passenger Cars In C-class, E-class And S-class Models At Plant No. 2 In Samut Prakan Province. Considered By Leading Car Manufacturers As One Of The Most Modern Factories In Southeast Asia, The Plant Has A Capacity Of 12,000 Cars Per Year. Thonburi Group Was Appointed By Daimlerchrysler (thailand) Ltd. To Be The Authorized Assembler Of Mercedes-benz�s C-class, E-class, S-class And A-class Models, In Accordance With Daimlerchrysler Ag�s Stringent Quality Standards.

You are comparing car assemblers with car manufacturers/makers,not quite the same,as parts being shipped in from around the world and put together,having been Engineered/made by other countries.

[MAJIC]

In your OP you said production now you say sales, which is it? Sorry should have guessed whichever figures can be used to bash the UK.

I should have paid attention to my own earlier post and not fed the Troll

And Yes! that was all the Topic was intended to do, perhaps we should all have listened to your advice: don't feed the Troll.

[Mark1971]

There are a number of issues the OP misses, fails to address or simply can't get his head around.

The first is the huge import tariffs applied to Automotive imports in Thailand - So where the UK is an open market and the UK's Automotive industry is not subsidised and not protected by the government the same cannot be said of the Thai Automotive industry.

Secondly there is a world wide overproduction of mass produced budget vehicles - Sales of UK budget vehicles have risen this year, but nobody expects that to continue - Expectation is that lower demand in Europe and greater international competition will reduce sales of Mass Produced vehicles in the UK. Of course these same impacts will hit Thailand's automotive industry, but you'll not find it being discussed in the local press or the BoI circulars.

On the flip side, the UK's luxury Automotive industry is booming, with production at Jaguar, RangeRover/LandRover flat out and long long waiting lists for other top end motors. All of which have a high content of UK Engineering and design. The UK's dominance of the racing Automotive industry needs no explanation.

Thailand has no luxury car maker, little if any Thai engineering or design content in any vehicle produced in Thailand and the only contribution to the Automotive Racing industry that Thailand makes is go faster stickers plastered on Toyotas driven by people who can't see over the steering wheel.

And then there is the blindingly obvious fact that while Thailand has been very successful at importing mass manufacture of Automotive vehicles (well done Thailand) there is next to no Thai engineering or design content in these vehicles AND as a matter of observation there is next to no other Thai engineering industry.

Compare this to the UK, where as mentioned there is a broad spectrum Automotive industry (with significant UK engineering and design content) PLUS a host of other industries that are simply not present in Thailand - Aerospace, Defence Technology, Communications Technology, Power Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Oil and Gas Engineering.

Plus a substantial research and development infrastructure both privately funded research centres and university department led research.

But yes, Thailand has done very well importing other people's manufacturing - Thailand has failed to build an engineering expertise on the back of this and those who are in charge of developing these industries further in Thailand are probably still grimacing from the effect of the floods last year.

Having read the BoI report on the car industry, perhaps it might be worth writing to them to ask how many companies close shop and went elsewhere after the floods of last year.

Bet your bottom dollar, Toyota, Honda et al, took note of the floods last year and the Thai government's lack of planning (smoke and mirrors) bet your bottom dollar they are working on Plan B....... Though they might not have told the BoI about it just yet.

GH said, "Thailand has no luxury car maker,"

Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co., Ltd. Began To Assemble Chassis For Commercial Vehicles At Plant No. 1. Subsequently, It Expanded Its Operation To Cover The Assembly Of Mercedes-benz Passenger Cars In C-class, E-class And S-class Models At Plant No. 2 In Samut Prakan Province. Considered By Leading Car Manufacturers As One Of The Most Modern Factories In Southeast Asia, The Plant Has A Capacity Of 12,000 Cars Per Year. Thonburi Group Was Appointed By Daimlerchrysler (thailand) Ltd. To Be The Authorized Assembler Of Mercedes-benz�s C-class, E-class, S-class And A-class Models, In Accordance With Daimlerchrysler Ag�s Stringent Quality Standards.

You are comparing car assemblers with car manufacturers/makers,not quite the same,as parts being shipped in from around the world and put together,having been Engineered/made by other countries.

OP has been out in the sun too long.

This is just a way for Mercedes to avoid import tariffs.

Engineer & manufacture the vehicles in Germany, dis-assemble into the largest components allowed, put into boxes and ship to Thailand.

All they are doing in Thailand is opening the boxes & bolting the bits back together.

[barefoot1988]

holy crap, you guys are still at this? do you guys get paid for every post or something

[MAJIC]

There are a number of issues the OP misses, fails to address or simply can't get his head around.

The first is the huge import tariffs applied to Automotive imports in Thailand - So where the UK is an open market and the UK's Automotive industry is not subsidised and not protected by the government the same cannot be said of the Thai Automotive industry.

Secondly there is a world wide overproduction of mass produced budget vehicles - Sales of UK budget vehicles have risen this year, but nobody expects that to continue - Expectation is that lower demand in Europe and greater international competition will reduce sales of Mass Produced vehicles in the UK. Of course these same impacts will hit Thailand's automotive industry, but you'll not find it being discussed in the local press or the BoI circulars.

On the flip side, the UK's luxury Automotive industry is booming, with production at Jaguar, RangeRover/LandRover flat out and long long waiting lists for other top end motors. All of which have a high content of UK Engineering and design. The UK's dominance of the racing Automotive industry needs no explanation.

Thailand has no luxury car maker, little if any Thai engineering or design content in any vehicle produced in Thailand and the only contribution to the Automotive Racing industry that Thailand makes is go faster stickers plastered on Toyotas driven by people who can't see over the steering wheel.

And then there is the blindingly obvious fact that while Thailand has been very successful at importing mass manufacture of Automotive vehicles (well done Thailand) there is next to no Thai engineering or design content in these vehicles AND as a matter of observation there is next to no other Thai engineering industry.

Compare this to the UK, where as mentioned there is a broad spectrum Automotive industry (with significant UK engineering and design content) PLUS a host of other industries that are simply not present in Thailand - Aerospace, Defence Technology, Communications Technology, Power Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Oil and Gas Engineering.

Plus a substantial research and development infrastructure both privately funded research centres and university department led research.

But yes, Thailand has done very well importing other people's manufacturing - Thailand has failed to build an engineering expertise on the back of this and those who are in charge of developing these industries further in Thailand are probably still grimacing from the effect of the floods last year.

Having read the BoI report on the car industry, perhaps it might be worth writing to them to ask how many companies close shop and went elsewhere after the floods of last year.

Bet your bottom dollar, Toyota, Honda et al, took note of the floods last year and the Thai government's lack of planning (smoke and mirrors) bet your bottom dollar they are working on Plan B....... Though they might not have told the BoI about it just yet.

GH said, "Thailand has no luxury car maker,"

Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co., Ltd. Began To Assemble Chassis For Commercial Vehicles At Plant No. 1. Subsequently, It Expanded Its Operation To Cover The Assembly Of Mercedes-benz Passenger Cars In C-class, E-class And S-class Models At Plant No. 2 In Samut Prakan Province. Considered By Leading Car Manufacturers As One Of The Most Modern Factories In Southeast Asia, The Plant Has A Capacity Of 12,000 Cars Per Year. Thonburi Group Was Appointed By Daimlerchrysler (thailand) Ltd. To Be The Authorized Assembler Of Mercedes-benz�s C-class, E-class, S-class And A-class Models, In Accordance With Daimlerchrysler Ag�s Stringent Quality Standards.

You are comparing car assemblers with car manufacturers/makers,not quite the same,as parts being shipped in from around the world and put together,having been Engineered/made by other countries.

OP has been out in the sun too long.

This is just a way for Mercedes to avoid import tariffs.

Engineer & manufacture the vehicles in Germany, dis-assemble into the largest components allowed, put into boxes and ship to Thailand.

All they are doing in Thailand is opening the boxes & bolting the bits back together.

Exactly Correct! and easy to understand,unless you don't know sod all about Engineering

[MAJIC]

Not trying to turn this into a "Brit bash"...but, man you guys made some really really crappy awful cars.

British Leyland

The XJS and XJ6 of 1970's and 80's.

MG's, Jensen's, ...the Range Rover's of the 80's and 90's.

Austin princess, Austin Allegro

Morris Marina

lest not forget Lucas electrical systems.

AKA The Prince of Darkness.

The inventor of the first intermittent wiper.

The inventor of the first intermittent headlight.

Q: Why do Brits drink warm beer? A:Lucas refrigerators.

The Top Ten Worst British Cars as Chosen by the British themselves:

http://digitaljourna.../article/258458

http://top10.com/top...st-british-cars

I seem to recall some 12 years ago Thailand was going to Design and Produce their first car, and to date how many have they Produced??? I thought so, Zilch!

[MAJIC]

CMK we are STILL WAITING for you yo give us examples to back up YOUR CLAIM that Thailand has Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

Give us some examples of these Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

Or admit you can't think of any!

What you fail to realize is the techniques of and superior Thai engineering produce success. Bad engineering and production techniques produce stagnation at best and failure at the worst. In 1972 GB produced 1.92 million cars. In 1972 Thailand hardly any.

Today Thailand employs over 300,000 people, generating 12% of the national GDP and is the country biggest manufacturing sector. Ford, GM, BMW, Daimler, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Toyota, Isuzu, Honda and Nissan have established presence in the country. In the 2000 only 411.000 light vehicles were produced in the country, the 0.7% of global production. Ten years later, the 1.6 million units produced were the 2.1% of global production, with Thailand first Pick up models producer. It is predicted that Thailand will turn out 2 million vehicles this year or next.

The above is an example of one country going up and another staying the same or going down. One of the many reasons is production techniques.

I don't think it takes a weather man to tell which way the wind is blowing. UK 1972, 1.92 million. 2011 1.3 million.

Because they are paid peanuts, easy really. Why has the wests manufacturing gone to China ?

Production of vehicles is dependent on many things. There is no rule that says one must pay the same wages as another country to compete. It is a war. To the victor go the sales.

And the vast bulk of the Profits go back to Japan,why else do you think it's worthwhile to pay Thais low wages,for shipping the parts in to Thailand assemble them and export? Regardless of your argument of who is producing the most cars,at the end of the day,the bottom line is: who is making the most profits? the UK or Thailand?

As for a Sales "WAR" I wouldn't think the UK has given it a second thought,you haven't allowed for two different markets,in your weak analysis.

[MAJIC]

Really the only British offering I would really want are a Land Rover Defender, an Ariel Atom or a Caterham 7.

You don't like Aston Martins or Lotus's or Nobles or Mclarens or Morgans or Ascaris or Bentleys or Caparo or Ginetta or Westfield ?

Yes a couple are foreign owned, but so are caterham.

Or any of the other cars from hundreds of our cottage industry car manufacturers. I quite like the Ultima myself.

Yes a couple are foreign owned, but so are Caterham.

Caterham,you mean those cheap and nasty Kit cars? surely you wouldn't buy one of those?

Edited October 16, 2012 by MAJIC

[NeverSure]

BUT l think manufacturing will move back to home lands in the future as these countries get nearer to the wests standard of life and costs are put on the west.

It's already happened but in reverse with Japan. Japan was in shambles after WWII but managed to not crawl back but fight back and dominate the small car market for a few decades. They also got really good with motorcycles, emerging electronics, cameras - lots of things. But as their economy grew, so did the costs there and now production costs are high and they are subbing things out to third world countries like Thailand.

Speaking of subbing things out to third world countries, Toyota Camrys and pickups are made in the USA. So are Honda Accords.

It's not as if the first world countries forgot how to mass produce at a price point.

Edited October 16, 2012 by NeverSure

[submaniac]

Really the only British offering I would really want are a Land Rover Defender, an Ariel Atom or a Caterham 7.

You don't like Aston Martins or Lotus's or Nobles or Mclarens or Morgans or Ascaris or Bentleys or Caparo or Ginetta or Westfield ?

Yes a couple are foreign owned, but so are caterham.

Or any of the other cars from hundreds of our cottage industry car manufacturers. I quite like the Ultima myself.

Yes a couple are foreign owned, but so are Caterham.

Caterham,you mean those cheap and nasty Kit cars? surely you wouldn't buy one of those?

Yes. Because it is cool. Kit car means it doesn't need to have all the added weight due to governmental crash testing. Light weight, nothing except for the bare essentials necessary. It's the essence of what a sports car should be.

Same for the Ariel Atom

No extra crap that you don't need. A sports car distilled to its pure essence. An Ariel Atom also holds the record on "Top Gear" as the car with the fastest lap time around the track. It beat out the Bugatti Veyron, the Ferraris, the Lamborghinis and the Aston Martins. The Caterham 7 is number 11 for fastest cars around the Top Gear track.

I ride a Honda CBR1000RR motorcycle. The Astons, the Porsches, the Ferraris...I consider to be slow in comparison, as I can pretty much out accelerate them. If the sports car is not more capable than the machine I already have, why bother? There are very few cars in the world truly capable of holding their own in a drag race against a literbike and they include the Bugatti Veyron, Caterham 7 and Ariel Atom.

Land Rover Defender:

Not a sports car. Was never meant to be a sports car. It is a legitimate military vehicle designed for the singular purpose of ruggedness. Don't like the other fancy Land Rover/Range Rovers with the wood and leather in the cockpit and other crap that is not necessary. The other Land Rovers are for soccer moms to ferry their children around and impress the other soccer moms.

I also like the Hummer H1, but the Hummer is so <deleted>' wide that you could not realistically drive it in BKK. A...Defender, yes. Jeep Wrangler (which is also what I already have) would be good too.

And Majic, really, is this thread soooooo incredibly interesting that it necessitates 7 consecutive posts nearly in a row???

[JurgenG]

OP

What is the point of this thread?

The reasons Automotive Manufacturing is increasing in Thailand are quite simple.

1. South East Asia is growing rapidly.

2. Japanese Yen is too strong, pushing low cost manufacturing overseas, while maintaining core Engineering skills in Japan.

3. Thailand has prohibitively high import taxes on imported vehicles.

4. Japanese like coming on business trips to Thailand, as the enviroment, weather & female companionship are better than competitors ie. China, India, Indonesia.

5. Thailand has a young, cheap, low skill workforce readily available.

None of these things are related to the UK, or UK Automotive Manufacturing.

Additionally none of them are anything to be particularly proud of.

UK Manufacturing is 10x as skilled & 3x as efficient as Thai manufacturing, it has to be due to the high wages & cost of living.

When Thailand has a workforce which has 1/2 the skill base of the UK you may have a point.

The problem with your demonstration is everything you say it's true for most of other South East Asian nations. So why is Thailand comparatively doing better that other nations including the UK ? Just face it, it's because the UK has decided to give priority to trade and finance and manufacturing is a collateral damage of this decision.

And Thailand did a better job to convince the Japanese that they were a better choice on a political, economical and technical level than other countries. Actually they didn't only convince, they made the country a better choice.

The second question is was the British Empire a good thing or not ? Considering that it's an Indian company who now owns Jaguar (see next post) I'm not so sure but I'm not British.

Edited October 17, 2012 by JurgenG

[JurgenG]

The cat returns

A British classic is revived

Jaguar’s new F-Type is the successor to the 1961 E-Type—the “most beautiful car ever made”, in the judgment of the late Enzo Ferrari, a rival.

It is also a tribute to Indian ownership.

http://www.economist.com/node/21563775

Edited October 17, 2012 by JurgenG

[samran]

The Homer

[Orac]

OP

What is the point of this thread?

The reasons Automotive Manufacturing is increasing in Thailand are quite simple.

1. South East Asia is growing rapidly.

2. Japanese Yen is too strong, pushing low cost manufacturing overseas, while maintaining core Engineering skills in Japan.

3. Thailand has prohibitively high import taxes on imported vehicles.

4. Japanese like coming on business trips to Thailand, as the enviroment, weather & female companionship are better than competitors ie. China, India, Indonesia.

5. Thailand has a young, cheap, low skill workforce readily available.

None of these things are related to the UK, or UK Automotive Manufacturing.

Additionally none of them are anything to be particularly proud of.

UK Manufacturing is 10x as skilled & 3x as efficient as Thai manufacturing, it has to be due to the high wages & cost of living.

When Thailand has a workforce which has 1/2 the skill base of the UK you may have a point.

The problem with your demonstration is everything you say it's true for most of other South East Asian nations. So why is Thailand comparatively doing better that other nations including the UK ? Just face it, it's because the UK has decided to give priority to trade and finance and manufacturing is a collateral damage of this decision.

And Thailand did a better job to convince the Japanese that they were a better choice on a political, economical and technical level than other countries. Actually they didn't only convince, they made the country a better choice.

The second question is was the British Empire a good thing or not ? Considering that it's an Indian company who now owns Jaguar (see next post) I'm not so sure but I'm not British.

The UK is at a different stage of economic development than Thailand and is much higher up the value chain with far larger number of high tech and service industries. Though the automotive industry is important to the UK economy it is nowhere near as reliant on it as is Thailand.

As for why Thailand is stronger on vehicle production than its regional neighbours when they all have cheap labour forces is that Thailand has better infrastructure than most other ASEAN countries. This will give them a strong advantage in the short/medium term where companies are looking to relocate out of China due to the rapidly rising wages and shrinking labour force but they will see strong competion in the future from the likes of Vietnam and Indonesia.

[chiangmaikelly]

I hope all the flaming is over because I thought it was a rather interesting discussion about auto production in Thailand.

I read all the overnight posts from our British friends who can't join us in Thailand right now and I think I have the gist of the arguments.

1. 
   The box theory. Thais can't engineer a car so we put them together and take them apart and box them and ship them to Thailand. Well, no. about half of the car is made from raw materials in Thailand and purchased from local manufactures in Thailand.
   
2. 
   The cheap labor theory. The only reason cars are made in Thailand is cheap labor. Well, no. Labor is only about 10% of the cost of a new car so that would make no sense at all.
   
3. 
   The import tax idea. The only reason cars are made in Thailand is to escape the import tax. Well, no. Half the cars made in Thailand are exported to another country; so you can see that makes no sense at all.
   

For the history buffs the biggest year in auto production in the UK was 1972 and the biggest year in auto production in Thailand will be 2012.

[WilliaminBKK]

Thank you once again for telling us your point, can we close the topic now ? PLEASE

No need to respond to every single post let it go.

[chiangmaikelly]

Thank you once again for telling us your point, can we close the topic now ? PLEASE

No need to respond to every single post let it go.

Holy gee no, I grouped together a bunch from last night.

[arthurwait]

The cat returns

A British classic is revived

Jaguar’s new F-Type is the successor to the 1961 E-Type—the “most beautiful car ever made”, in the judgment of the late Enzo Ferrari, a rival.

It is also a tribute to Indian ownership.

http://www.economist.com/node/21563775

Head of design is half Thai, half English. Where does the thread go now.

[JurgenG]

The cat returns

A British classic is revived

Jaguar’s new F-Type is the successor to the 1961 E-Type—the “most beautiful car ever made”, in the judgment of the late Enzo Ferrari, a rival.

It is also a tribute to Indian ownership.

http://www.economist.com/node/21563775

Head of design is half Thai, half English. Where does the thread go now.

So I guess it's a draw