It looks like the temporary setback that was the Japanese earthquake and tsunami is now firmly in the rear view mirror, and it’s full steam ahead for the auto industry. Toyota, for one, is raising the capacity of its Ban Pho plant in Thailand by 40% to meet growing demand. The expansion will start in September.
The biggest automaker in Thailand will invest 3 billion baht to expand the plant, which churns out Hilux Vigo pickup trucks and Fortuner SUVs, both of which received facelifts recently. Currently capacity is about 18,000 to 20,000 vehicles per month. Another round of expansion is expected next year.
“Even though pickup truck and SUV production has been expanded, we believe the total cumulative supply remains short of local and overseas demand,” said TMT president Kyoichi Tanada, who added that Fortuner production will continue to be shared between Thailand and Indonesia even after the expansion.
Besides Ban Pho in Chachoengsao, Toyota has another Samrong plant in Samut Prakan, and it has been investing to improve assembly speed there to increase production volume, as there’s no room for expansion. Combined, the two plants produce over 45,000 units of trucks and SUVs per month at present.
The Hilux (now called Hilux Vigo Champ in Thailand) and Fortuner are hugely important models for Toyota, which sold around 2.3 million units of both models worldwide from 2005 to 2010. Made in Thailand, they are exported to some 113 countries across the globe.
The facelifted Hilux and Fortuner made their debuts at the recent Indonesia International Motor Show. Click here and here to read our previous posts. They should be heading to our shores soon too, perhaps by the end of this year.
© 2011 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.
This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 02 Aug 11 02:02:07 +0000.
Related posts:
- Toyota moves Fortuner production line to Indonesia
- Toyota to suspend production in Thai factory
- UMW Toyota facelifts the Hilux, Innova and Fortuner
- Toyota Fortuner in Malaysia
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