Thailand's War With The Uk

[arthurwait]

If the OP wants a knob waving contest perhaps he can answer how many Thai companies manufacture cars. All of the manufactuing in Thailand is from foreign companies.

All the manufacturing in the UK is from foreign companies too now I believe isn't it?

Thailand does have one small fully domestic owned company that manufactures cars. Thai Rung manufactures a small number of cars, both military and civilian under their own brand.

There is another company, Chaiseri, that manufactures military vehicles.

Additionally, unlike many other countries, virtually the entire car is manufactured in Thailand and it is not just assembled like in most other countries. And the majority of the parts companies that supply the foreign brands in Thailand are completely Thai owned or majority Thai owned.

Regardless, the auto industry in Thailand is booming. Production is estimated at 2.2 million units this year. Sales are estimated at 1.3 million. It won't be long now before Thailand is not only manufacturing more units per year than many countries in Europe, but selling more as well. They already sell more than medium sized EU countries like Spain, they are getting close to countries like the UK now too and in another decade will probably surpass them.

I think they also make engines for Isuzu.

Again it's other peoples technology. Just rebodying someone elses chassis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Rung_Union_Car

In the 3rd quarter of 2003, sales of the long awaited Adventure Master, based on the Isuzu D-Max pickup, finally got under way. There were about 300 units sold/month, to be increased to 500 units. In the meantime the Xciter (based on Nissan Frontier D22) sales were around 100 units/month.

SKD kits are currently being exported to China and Iran. Thai Rung plans to follow Isuzu on supplying Adventure Master kits to other countries, like Egypt, Kenya, and Philippines.

[candid]

^{The OP started this thread in, what I must say, a pretty belligerent manner. As a UK citizen, I was completely unaware that we were fighting a war with Thailand on ANY front at all. Furthermore, and after living in Thailand for 9 years, I have yet to hear a Thai person mention this fact to me either.}

^{Makes me wonder if the OP has a personal axe to grind as I am completely unable to see his point on any of the questions raised in his posts.}

[chiangmaikelly]

Sure Arthur it is about other peoples ideas and other peoples money. The car companies come to Thailand and build factories and employ Thai people and build cars. This contributes a very large amount of money to The Thai economy. It is not about Thai people making new auto brands. I never said it was. I said Thailand will soon produce 3 million cars a year.

[GuestHouse]

Guest house errors.

1. 
   Factory management, engineering, financial and all the other areas of management are Thai and not cheap.
   
2. 
   Automotive R&D is a very small part of the total cost of a vehicle.
   
3. 
   You are ignoring both Mercedes and BMW make cars in Thailand.
   
4. 
   Import tariffs have nothing to vehicles sold outside of Thailand.
   

The causes of the demise of the US auto industry are beyond the scope of this thread as is the demise of British ownership of the British auto industry.

1. I personally know over a dozen foreign factory manages working in the Thai Auto Industry - The guy I bought my condo from is a foreign Engineer working in the Thai Auto Assembly Industry.

2. Automotive R&D + Technological development is not cheap - Moreover it is (as I pointed out earlier) a player in the Technology Merry Go Round - The UK has a very vibrant R&D, Technology sector serving industry - Thailand's R&D sector is next to non existent.

3. I am not ignoring Mercedes and BMW ASSEMBLE CARS here in Thailand - Talk to Thais about this, they absolutely make a distinction between Mercs and BMWs made in Thailand and Mercs and BMWs made in Thailand ( and as it happens whenHonda could not meet demand last year because of the Thai management of the flood defences - Honda imported Civic and Jazz models from Japan - these Japanese imported Hondas are selling second hand at a considerable premium - they seem to have a special added value).

Regardless - Merc and BMW ASSEMBLE cars here - to there imported design and using their imported technology.

4. Import tariffs provide protection to the Thai Auto Industry and provide the economic reason for Assembling here - if these manufacturers did not Assemble here the import taxes would preclude them from selling here - Are you paying attention?

It was you who brought the US Auto Makers into the discussion. - Are you paying attention?

[chiangmaikelly]

^{The OP started this thread in, what I must say, a pretty belligerent manner. As a UK citizen, I was completely unaware that we were fighting a war with Thailand on ANY front at all. Furthermore, and after living in Thailand for 9 years, I have yet to hear a Thai person mention this fact to me either.}

^{Makes me wonder if the OP has a personal axe to grind as I am completely unable to see his point on any of the questions raised in his posts.}

Marketing. It got you to read the thread and even comment eh? You gotta have a headline or no one reads the story.

[GuestHouse]

Worker quality is a subjective measure that I doubt you and I will ever agree on - But you should be able to give us solid measurable examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

Examples please..... ????

[chiangmaikelly]

Guest house errors.

1. Factory management, engineering, financial and all the other areas of management are Thai and not cheap.
   
2. Automotive R&D is a very small part of the total cost of a vehicle.
   
3. You are ignoring both Mercedes and BMW make cars in Thailand.
   
4. Import tariffs have nothing to vehicles sold outside of Thailand.
   

The causes of the demise of the US auto industry are beyond the scope of this thread as is the demise of British ownership of the British auto industry.

1. I personally know over a dozen foreign factory manages working in the Thai Auto Industry - The guy I bought my condo from is a foreign Engineer working in the Thai Auto Assembly Industry.2. Automotive R&D + Technological development is not cheap - Moreover it is (as I pointed out earlier) a player in the Technology Merry Go Round - The UK has a very vibrant R&D, Technology sector serving industry - Thailand's R&D sector is next to non existent.3. I am not ignoring Mercedes and BMW ASSEMBLE CARS here in Thailand - Talk to Thais about this, they absolutely make a distinction between Mercs and BMWs made in Thailand and Mercs and BMWs made in Thailand ( and as it happens whenHonda could not meet demand last year because of the Thai management of the flood defences - Honda imported Civic and Jazz models from Japan - these Japanese imported Hondas are selling second hand at a considerable premium - they seem to have a special added value).Regardless - Merc and BMW ASSEMBLE cars here - to there imported design and using their imported technology.4. Import tariffs provide protection to the Thai Auto Industry and provide the economic reason for Assembling here - if these manufacturers did not Assemble here the import taxes would preclude them from selling here - Are you paying attention?It was you who brought the US Auto Makers into the discussion. - Are you paying attention?

1. Unless you have a percent of foreign workers vs Thai workers anecdotal evidence is not allowed in the debate. Are you paying attention? (See now wasn't your attempt to insult me of dubious value)
   
2. Automotive R&D is only 1% of the total sales of the normal automobile sold in the world today. Vibrant shmibrant it is almost too small to consider. And if the UK was any good at it they would still own the companies anyway.
   
3. Again anecdotal evidence is not allowed in this debate unless you can back it up with statistics.
   
4. Import tariffs have nothing to do with Thai vehicles sold outside of Thailand and to tell me that the Thai government knows how to support its auto industry is nothing new to anybody in the business.
   

Edited October 14, 2012 by chiangmaikelly

[theblether]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

[chiangmaikelly]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

[chiangmaikelly]

Worker quality is a subjective measure that I doubt you and I will ever agree on - But you should be able to give us solid measurable examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

Examples please..... ????

The proof is in the pudding isn't it? The Thai market share has increased almost every year for the past 40 years.

[theblether]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

I'm far from a dour Scot.

This so called war is a construct of your mind.

[Rob8891]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.ya...ent/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

@CMK.... Usually I find your posts intelligent and generally I find myself agreeing with your point of view, but this whole thread is ridiculous: it appears to be some sort of personal attack on the UK, based on some ethereal premise. Worse than that, it is now descending into resorting to personal insults. I've been following the thread, but have felt no compunction to post, for easons already stated. But enough is enough... earlier you reacted when someone queeried whether you were talking about sales or manufacturing, (at leas that referred to your thread title) Now you're introducing shrimps..... The thread, and IMO the OP are losing the plot. Considering some of your earlier responses, your recent comment telling anoth poster to "lighten up a bit" is highly hypocritical.

Edited October 14, 2012 by Rob8891

[submaniac]

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 think you are totally wrong on all points. In fact l have owned, driven or worked on all you rides mentioned. You every worked on a Datsun of the era ?

Ah my dear Transam, so I suppose you shall be changing your Thaivisa Nick from "transam" to "morrismarina"?

Now my thoughts are I was never a mechanic by profession or choice, but rather out of necessity (usually standing at the side of the road in the pouring rain trying to figure out "how do I get this sh*t to work"?)

My dear brother had a Datsun 280ZX turbo. Never had the opportunity to really work on it (outside of the oil change), cuz it never really broke down. He moved on to Porsches. I think he still to this day regrets selling the 280zx.

I must admit I have never really owned a British car. This was after driving my friends' British cars and having to listen to their horror stories. Of course in America, there were not too many British offerings really. In my younger days (and actually to this day) the only British cars available for sale brand new in the US are the Jaguar, Range Rover/Land Rover, the Bentley, and the Rolls Royce. Everyone of my friends who owned a Jaguar (xj6 or xjs) told me not to buy one. (PS it is a common thing in the USA to swap in a small block v8 into a Jag, even to this day.)

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

The car that got me through college was an Alfa Romeo spider. POS. I don't trust the Italians either. The Italians know how to engineer "sexy" into their cars, just no "reliability" or "ease of maintenance". Whenever something went wrong my thoughts were "what kind of idiot would put that part there so I have to tear apart the entire <deleted>' car to get to it"? The same garage I went to also worked on Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Maserati's (it was actually Alfa Milano on La Cienega in Los Angeles, which is the location that the garage scene in "Gone in 60 Seconds" with Nick Cage and Angelina Jolie was filmed at). So when my POS Alfa would break down, I would go there. And I would see fairly late model Ferrari's that were all torn apart. Like it looked like they were in an accident or had something majorly wrong, like a blown engine. I'd ask my mechanic, Aquilles (ah the joys of having an actual Italian mechanic from Italy) about it. Nah...it was just the 30k mile service (which apparently runs $10-15k on a Ferrari). So whereas the Japanese would make the common parts that need servicing easy to reach, the Italians just didn't care that you had to tear apart their cars.

My thoughts are (1) Italians--know how to design sexy into cars, cars are still crap in terms of reliability (and yeah and I mean still crap to this day because I will never fully trust the Italians to design and build cars) (2) British know how to add elegance to their cars, crap in terms of reliability historically (though I understand has improved a great deal as of late) (3) Japanese know how to design reliability and durability but don't really understand "style" (not until fairly recently at least) (4) German--pretty good style (if you dig the "Teutonic" thing), good reliability, however if it goes wrong it will be expensive (5) American--not too hot at either styling or build quality but at least fairly easy to work on (let's face it, for years all the USA did was shove the same small block V8 into all the vehicles--the trucks, the sports cars, the sports coupes, the luxury sedans, the station wagons, such that the combo was pretty much perfected).

[endure]

Veering wildly off topic for a while one thing that's always puzzled me is the Peugeot 107/Citroen C1/Toyota Aygo thing. We're all told that Pugs and Citroens are not too reliable and Toyota is the reliability gem. All the three cars I've mentioned are built on the same assembly line in Poland(?). What do they do? Build Pugs on a Monday, Citroens on a Friday and Toyotas mid-week?

[Rob8891]

@submaniac

QUOTE: "I must admit I have never really owned a British car."

Great to see how much perceived wisdom you can spout from a a point of self-confessed ignorance.

[submaniac]

@submaniac

QUOTE: "I must admit I have never really owned a British car."

Great to see how much perceived wisdom you can spout from a a point of self-confessed ignorance.

This was after driving my friends' British cars and having to listen to their horror stories.

Because it is a good idea to contemplate buying a car without driving it, and after driving the car and realizing you don't like it, you should buy it anyways so you can have a stronger basis of knowledge as to why exactly you don't want to own it.

YMMV

Edited October 14, 2012 by submaniac

[wellred]

What is this thread hoping to achieve? Sounds like a load of <deleted> to me.

[GuestHouse]

Worker quality is a subjective measure that I doubt you and I will ever agree on - But you should be able to give us solid measurable examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

Examples please..... ????

The proof is in the pudding isn't it? The Thai market share has increased almost every year for the past 40 years.

No the proof is not in the pudding - Controlled market access and some of the highest import tariffs in the world have skewed the market - which regardless is absolutely not proof of the existence of YOUR CLAIM that Thailand has Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

So come on CMK - You have made the claim - now give us some examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques?

Or would you like to retract the claim?

[GuestHouse]

Veering wildly off topic for a while one thing that's always puzzled me is the Peugeot 107/Citroen C1/Toyota Aygo thing. We're all told that Pugs and Citroens are not too reliable and Toyota is the reliability gem. All the three cars I've mentioned are built on the same assembly line in Poland(?). What do they do? Build Pugs on a Monday, Citroens on a Friday and Toyotas mid-week?

The reason is, the reliability of Toyotas is engineered into the components and the assembly process - Example: The tolerances, materials, quality control of individual comments is engineered for reliability then modularised into packages to be installed at the main assembler.

The main assembler might forget to tighten an engine mount, but they are not involved in assembling the engine's internal components.

So the quality differences come from the engineered supply to the Assembly, the assembly only plays a minor part in overall quality.

[chiangmaikelly]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.ya...ent/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

I'm far from a dour Scot.

This so called war is a construct of your mind.

Yes, as is the post about brigades like the thin skin brigade. Purely a construct.

[chiangmaikelly]

Worker quality is a subjective measure that I doubt you and I will ever agree on - But you should be able to give us solid measurable examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

Examples please..... ????

The proof is in the pudding isn't it? The Thai market share has increased almost every year for the past 40 years.

No the proof is not in the pudding - Controlled market access and some of the highest import tariffs in the world have skewed the market - which regardless is absolutely not proof of the existence of YOUR CLAIM that Thailand has Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

So come on CMK - You have made the claim - now give us some examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques?

Or would you like to retract the claim?

I don't know what you are talking about. BMW makes cars in Thailand. BMW says they make cars in Thailand. Thailand makes engines for cars. Thailand makes engines for motorcycles. They take raw materials and turn them into car parts. They make tires the same way. Perhaps you could explain to me what import tariffs are imposed on raw materials imported into Thailand and how that effects the price of cars and trucks that are sold outside of Thailand.

[StreetCowboy]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.ya...ent/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

There's enough of us are that it's a good working approximation, though. There may be a few exceptions, but I doubt that they amount to much

SC

[chiangmaikelly]

Veering wildly off topic for a while one thing that's always puzzled me is the Peugeot 107/Citroen C1/Toyota Aygo thing. We're all told that Pugs and Citroens are not too reliable and Toyota is the reliability gem. All the three cars I've mentioned are built on the same assembly line in Poland(?). What do they do? Build Pugs on a Monday, Citroens on a Friday and Toyotas mid-week?

The reason is, the reliability of Toyotas is engineered into the components and the assembly process - Example: The tolerances, materials, quality control of individual comments is engineered for reliability then modularised into packages to be installed at the main assembler.

The main assembler might forget to tighten an engine mount, but they are not involved in assembling the engine's internal components.

So the quality differences come from the engineered supply to the Assembly, the assembly only plays a minor part in overall quality.

So GM does not make engines in Thailand? They didn't spend 200 million (Thai baht 6 billion) on a Diesel Engine facility in Rayong? GM does not expect to produce 120,000 engines there a year?

[StreetCowboy]

Worker quality is a subjective measure that I doubt you and I will ever agree on - But you should be able to give us solid measurable examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

Examples please..... ????

The proof is in the pudding isn't it? The Thai market share has increased almost every year for the past 40 years.

No the proof is not in the pudding - Controlled market access and some of the highest import tariffs in the world have skewed the market - which regardless is absolutely not proof of the existence of YOUR CLAIM that Thailand has Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

So come on CMK - You have made the claim - now give us some examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques?

Or would you like to retract the claim?

I think that's why there is so much manufacturing in the UK - easy access to European markets. The fact that we consultants like Lotus doesn't make a great deal of difference to the numbers, and Proton are not about to switch production to the UK, unless they decide to seriously attack the European market; in which case they would probably go to one of the newer Eastern member states.

Malaysia has three domestic car manufacturers, at least two of whom are now producing their own distinctive models and achieving brand recognition. Unlike Thailand, Malaysia has managed to lift itself into the 20th century, and while primary production remains an important part of the economy, the country is aggressively trying to crawl its way up the added-value ladder, and the main thing holding it back now is its protectionism

SC

[chiangmaikelly]

What is this thread hoping to achieve? Sounds like a load of <deleted> to me.

I realize it is difficult to read a whole thread but sometimes that is a good way to find out what the thread is about. I'll repeat this for you as I posted it yesterday. I was trying to make a point. I think I did. Thailand has a large and vibrant auto industry. As large as the auto manufacturing industry in the UK and about the 11th or 12 largest in the world.

So when all of the economic experts on Thailand begin to tell everyone how bad the Thai economy is you can point to this thread and say, "balderdash."

The reason the Thai baht has risen and the UK and US currencies have gone down is in part because of the health and future of the Thai auto industry among many other things.

[chiangmaikelly]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.ya...ent/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

@CMK.... Usually I find your posts intelligent and generally I find myself agreeing with your point of view, but this whole thread is ridiculous: it appears to be some sort of personal attack on the UK, based on some ethereal premise. Worse than that, it is now descending into resorting to personal insults. I've been following the thread, but have felt no compunction to post, for easons already stated. But enough is enough... earlier you reacted when someone queeried whether you were talking about sales or manufacturing, (at leas that referred to your thread title) Now you're introducing shrimps..... The thread, and IMO the OP are losing the plot. Considering some of your earlier responses, your recent comment telling anoth poster to "lighten up a bit" is highly hypocritical.

Perhaps you can point out where I have insulted anyone. I don't see it. A poster said I should not have used the word war. It is a common word to express competition hence the reference to shrimp wars. I have repeated my point a number of times. Thailand makes a lot of cars. This year or next Thailand will make more cars than the UK. That's all I wanted to get across.

[chiangmaikelly]

Worker quality is a subjective measure that I doubt you and I will ever agree on - But you should be able to give us solid measurable examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

Examples please..... ????

The proof is in the pudding isn't it? The Thai market share has increased almost every year for the past 40 years.

No the proof is not in the pudding - Controlled market access and some of the highest import tariffs in the world have skewed the market - which regardless is absolutely not proof of the existence of YOUR CLAIM that Thailand has Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques.

So come on CMK - You have made the claim - now give us some examples of Superior Thai Engineering and Production Techniques?

Or would you like to retract the claim?

I think that's why there is so much manufacturing in the UK - easy access to European markets. The fact that we consultants like Lotus doesn't make a great deal of difference to the numbers, and Proton are not about to switch production to the UK, unless they decide to seriously attack the European market; in which case they would probably go to one of the newer Eastern member states.

Malaysia has three domestic car manufacturers, at least two of whom are now producing their own distinctive models and achieving brand recognition. Unlike Thailand, Malaysia has managed to lift itself into the 20th century, and while primary production remains an important part of the economy, the country is aggressively trying to crawl its way up the added-value ladder, and the main thing holding it back now is its protectionism

SC

It should be pointed out that Thailand makes a couple of million cars and Malaysia makes a half a million. Big difference there eh?

[WilliaminBKK]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.ya...ent/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

@CMK.... Usually I find your posts intelligent and generally I find myself agreeing with your point of view, but this whole thread is ridiculous: it appears to be some sort of personal attack on the UK, based on some ethereal premise. Worse than that, it is now descending into resorting to personal insults. I've been following the thread, but have felt no compunction to post, for easons already stated. But enough is enough... earlier you reacted when someone queeried whether you were talking about sales or manufacturing, (at leas that referred to your thread title) Now you're introducing shrimps..... The thread, and IMO the OP are losing the plot. Considering some of your earlier responses, your recent comment telling anoth poster to "lighten up a bit" is highly hypocritical.

Perhaps you can point out where I have insulted anyone. I don't see it. A poster said I should not have used the word war. It is a common word to express competition hence the reference to shrimp wars. I have repeated my point a number of times. Thailand makes a lot of cars. This year or next Thailand will make more cars than the UK. That's all I wanted to get across.

Point taking, Thailand will make lots of cars for their owners got it, Thailand will be a hub -wonderful-fantastic-super & the UK is nothing.

We've covered cars, shrimp & currency what's next ? Thailand grows more mangoes than the UK ?

[JurgenG]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.ya...ent/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

@CMK.... Usually I find your posts intelligent and generally I find myself agreeing with your point of view, but this whole thread is ridiculous: it appears to be some sort of personal attack on the UK, based on some ethereal premise. Worse than that, it is now descending into resorting to personal insults. I've been following the thread, but have felt no compunction to post, for easons already stated. But enough is enough... earlier you reacted when someone queeried whether you were talking about sales or manufacturing, (at leas that referred to your thread title) Now you're introducing shrimps..... The thread, and IMO the OP are losing the plot. Considering some of your earlier responses, your recent comment telling anoth poster to "lighten up a bit" is highly hypocritical.

Perhaps you can point out where I have insulted anyone. I don't see it. A poster said I should not have used the word war. It is a common word to express competition hence the reference to shrimp wars. I have repeated my point a number of times. Thailand makes a lot of cars. This year or next Thailand will make more cars than the UK. That's all I wanted to get across.

Agree with you. The title of this thread is maybe a bit provocative but in line with what you can read everyday in the newspapers, especially if you take The Nation as reference.

The problem, as I see it, is that the subject is a bit complicated, need basic understanding of subjects such as large scale production, marketing, government long term planning ... Some posters find themselves out of their depth and they don't like it, hence the insults "troll, inflammatory, ..."

Honestly I prefer talking about car production rather than about my girlfriend favorite ice cream's flavors ...

In short, thank you for this very interesting thread. Don't give up

[topt]

The title of the thread is pejorative and inflammatory, CMK should request that the mods modify it to reflect the topic.

There is no one, and I mean no one, in the UK even remotely contemplating using the word war in connection with any aspect of UK / Thai relations and I object to the use of that word in a title of a thread on the biggest expat website in SE Asia.

As I said, the title is inflammatory and I believe my fellow British members will agree with that.

http://yaleglobal.ya...ent/shrimp-wars

When American wild pink shrimp caught in the ocean are sold for $18.99 a pound while farmed shrimp from Thailand are only sold at $7.99, the market is going to tilt.

War is a normal word when applied to many things beside actual war as demonstrated above. Beer wars, Fish wars. Fast food wars. Lighten up a bit. We are not all dour Scots.

@CMK.... Usually I find your posts intelligent and generally I find myself agreeing with your point of view, but this whole thread is ridiculous: it appears to be some sort of personal attack on the UK, based on some ethereal premise. Worse than that, it is now descending into resorting to personal insults. I've been following the thread, but have felt no compunction to post, for easons already stated. But enough is enough... earlier you reacted when someone queeried whether you were talking about sales or manufacturing, (at leas that referred to your thread title) Now you're introducing shrimps..... The thread, and IMO the OP are losing the plot. Considering some of your earlier responses, your recent comment telling anoth poster to "lighten up a bit" is highly hypocritical.

Perhaps you can point out where I have insulted anyone. I don't see it. A poster said I should not have used the word war. It is a common word to express competition hence the reference to shrimp wars. I have repeated my point a number of times. Thailand makes a lot of cars. This year or next Thailand will make more cars than the UK. That's all I wanted to get across.

I only disagree with Rob8891 in that i don't think you lost the plot as I thought you had your tongue very firmly through your cheek from the start.

As others have suggested your use of the word "war" and a comparison with the UK in this context is about as bogus as you can get - and by using it you obfuscated the message that you said you wanted to get across - if that was really your intent