Honda Opens Second Thai Auto Plant

Japanese manufacturer Honda today announced the opening of the second Thai auto plant, built near the first factory (initially responsible for developing cars and engines) in Ayuttthaya province. According to a press release published by Honda, the Japanese company invested more than 6.2 million Thai baht (approximately 180,000 dollars) in the new plant which covers an area of no less than 150,000 square meters. Obviously, the factory will employ approximately 2,200 workers in order to raise the annual production capacity to 240,000 vehicles.

“With this second plant, our Thai operations advance to the next stage. This means not just providing high quality products to global markets. Our operations here will enhance their responsibility as the leader plant in Asia to provide technical support to other plants across the region. With the rapid changes occurring around the world, our operations in Asia will play a greater role than ever,” said Fumihiko Ike, President & CEO of Asian Honda.

Honda plans to move the production of several models to the new Ayutthaya plant, including Accord, Civic, City and CR-V. The Japanese company is currently the second largest manufacturer and exporter in Thailand, with approximately 64,000 units sold in the first nine months of this year. This represents an increase of 33 percent of the sales recorded in the same period of 2007, with a market share increase of 3.4 percent.

“With the start of this new auto plant, Honda Automobile Thailand is now ranked the largest manufacturer of passenger cars in ASEAN. This plant incorporates the most advanced clean production technologies currently deployed anywhere, making it one of Honda’s cleanest auto manufacturing facilities in the world,” Kenji Otaka, President of HATC, said.

According to recent figures, Honda is the fifth largest automobile manufacturer in the world and the fourth largest carmaker in United States. Honda has more than 167,000 employees as of September 2008.