By DPA
Bangkok : Thailand could become an important eco-car production centre, according to plans by Suzuki, Tata Motors, Nissan and others, news reports here said Friday.
India’s Tata Motors has its own plans for Thailand, intending to produce 35,000 pickups per year with an investment of 1.3 billion baht ($42 million) despite fierce competition in the world’s second-largest pickup market after the US.
Tata has also marked the country as its regional hub for eco-cars, the Bangkok Post reported.
Suzuki plans to produce 138,000 environment friendly vehicles annually in Thailand with an investment of 9.5 billion baht ($316 million) while fellow Japanese automaker Nissan plans annual production of 120,000 units.
Environment friendly cars currently account for a tiny slice of the burgeoning Asian car and truck market, making them mostly prestige products for manufacturers, but industry strategists see them as becoming much more important as market demand climbs and environmental issues become more urgent.
Japan’s Toyota and Mitsubishi have also claimed investment incentives from the Thai Board of Investment to produce green vehicles. Until now, only Honda had been granted such a tax break for investments of 6.7 billion baht.
Thai rules require a firm to make at least 100,000 vehicles a year that can run for at least 20 km per litre of fuel to receive the tax breaks.