Thailand a strategic base for Ford

Ford Motor's vice president for production and labour affairs John Fleming said that construction of the company's $450-million (Bt13.58 billion) plant in Rayong was progressing as planned and it was expected to be operational in 2012.

The new plant will buy parts worth $1 billion per year from 177 local suppliers and export vehicles worth $2 billion per year. As many as 11,000 jobs should also be created - 2,200 by Ford itself and 8,800 by its suppliers, he said.

The plant will have a production capacity of 150,000 units per year and will produce the new Ford Focus.

"Thailand is highly suitable for driving our business under the 'One Ford' strategy and you will see that global models such as the Fiesta and the Ranger, which will be introduced next year, will be produced in Thailand and exported around the world," he said, adding that the new Focus would also be exported.

Fleming said the "One Ford" strategy allowed the company to develop a single product for worldwide sales, which led to dramatic reductions in development costs.

In the first 11 months of 2010, Ford sold 2,131 vehicles in Thailand, the highest in four years, including 1,413 units of the Fiesta.

"More than 6,000 orders have been placed for the Fiesta since it was launched in September, and this has brought combined Ford monthly sales in this region, which also covers Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, to an average 5,100 units per month," he said.