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General Motors Thailand

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General Motors (Thailand) Limited (GMT) was a holding company of sales and manufacturing subsidiaries of General Motors (GM) in Thailand.[3]

General Motors (Thailand) Limited
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryAutomotive
Founded1993
Defunct2020; 4 years ago (2020)
FateCeased production and sales
SuccessorGreat Wall Motors Thailand (physical plant)
Headquarters
ProductsAutomobiles
Internal combustion engines
Production output
1,361,000 vehicles and 500,000 powertrains (total per August 2019)[1]
Brands
Number of employees
1,900 (February 2020)[2]
ParentGeneral Motors (100%)
Subsidiaries
  • General Motors Powertrain (Thailand) Limited
  • Chevrolet Sales (Thailand) Limited
Websitechevrolet.co.th

The company was registered in 1993 as a sales company, and opened its manufacturing plant in 2000.[4] At its height, GM Thailand exported vehicles to most regions in the world, including South America, Central America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan.[5]

In February 2020, GM announced that it would withdraw from the Thai market and the Rayong plant would be acquired by Great Wall Motors by the end of 2020.[6][7] The company continued to support existing Chevrolet owners for ongoing aftersales, warranty and service.[8]

History

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General Motors cars, particularly Opel and Holden cars were assembled in Thailand from 1970 through several local assemblers, including Bangchan General Assembly and Asoke Motors. Several models assembled in the era were the Holden Monaro LS, Chevrolet De Ville and Opel Rekord.

In May 1996, General Motors decided to build a manufacturing plant in Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate in Rayong for its Southeast Asian expansion. Investment to neighbouring Indonesia was ruled out due to the requirement of 60 percent local content imposed by the Indonesian government, while the Thailand government granted GM's request to drop the local content requirement.[9] The site is located right next to AutoAlliance Thailand, a plant jointly owned by fellow Detroit carmaker, Ford Motor Company along with Mazda.

 
The Chevrolet Zafira was the first product produced by GM Thailand

Modelled after GM's Eisenach plant in Germany,[10] the Rayong plant was scheduled to produce 100,000 to 150,000 vehicles annually, with 80 percent of these to be exported. The plant was opened in May 2000, producing the Chevrolet Zafira.[1] The Zafira was exported to the neighbouring Southeast Asian countries and Mexico, and also exported to Australia as the Holden Zafira and Japan as the Subaru Traviq. By 2002, the Zafira was the number one selling car in Thailand's domestic family wagon segment with 3,946 units sold.[5] Between 2002 and 2004, the plant also assembled the Alfa Romeo 156 under contract with Fiat.[11][12] The company also imported and distributed Saab vehicles to the country.[13] Starting in 2003, the Holden Commodore was badged as the Chevrolet Lumina in Thailand for the VY and VZ model series. Exports lasted until 2005.[14]

Following GM's acquisition of Daewoo Motors, GM Thailand started manufacturing several Chevrolet-badged Daewoo subcompact and compact passenger cars, starting from the Chevrolet Optra sedan in June 2003, Optra estate in March 2005, and both Aveo sedan and Captiva in June 2007. For one-ton pickups, GM Thailand manufactured the Colorado, an Isuzu-derived pickup from March 2004. It was exported to Australia as the Holden Colorado from 2008.

In August 2008, GM invested US$445 million to build an engine and transmission plant. Located adjacent to the assembly plant, the plant was opened in 2011 as the General Motors Powertrain (Thailand) Limited.[4] It produced the 2.5 L and 2.8 L Duramax diesel engine, later also exported to the United States.

 
Abhisit Vejjajiva, then prime minister of Thailand, viewing the Chevrolet Cruze at the Motor Expo 2010 held in IMPACT Muang Thong Thani Exhibition Center

After losing market share for years, GM announced a restructuring plan for its Thailand operations in February 2015.[15] The plan included phasing out passenger cars and focusing on SUVs and pickups instead. As a result, the Sonic was discontinued in May 2015 and the Cruze followed in 2017. Later, GM Thailand also stopped production of the Captiva in 2018, leaving the Trailblazer SUV and Colorado pickup in the line-up. GM executives were considering the Trax subcompact SUV to be produced in the country. However, a business case for the Trax could not be justified due to thin margins and low sales forecast.[16] In March 2019, the company announced its plan to market the second generation Captiva in Thailand. It was showcased at the Bangkok International Motor Show 2019 and released to the market in September 2019.[17] Imported from Indonesia, the car is a rebadged Baojun 530/Wuling Almaz.[18]

On 17 February 2020, Andy Dunstan, President of GM Strategic Markets, Alliances and Distributors, announced that Chevrolet would be withdrawn from the Thai domestic vehicle market and GM would cease vehicle and powertrain production at the Rayong manufacturing facilities.[19][20] Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor agreed to acquire the plant by the end of 2020 to help its expansion in ASEAN.[21] This decision also led to the demise of the Holden brand in Australia and New Zealand, as GM Thailand was the main source of Holden trucks.[22] GM Thailand's last vehicle, a blue Chevrolet Colorado, rolled off the Rayong line in May 2020 as the 934,758th Colorado produced by GM Thailand.[23]

Products

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Throughout its operations, GM Thailand had produced 934,758 Colorados.

Manufactured locally by GM Thailand

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Not Manufactured by GM Thailand

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Imported

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Domestic sales

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Calendar Year Sales Rank
2005[24] 33,939 6
2011[25] 31,503
2014[26] 25,799 8
2015[27] 17,456 9
2016[28] 14,931 9
2017[29] 18,771 9
2018[30] 20,313 10
2019[31] 15,161 10

References

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  1. ^ a b "General Motors Thailand - Fact Sheet" (PDF). GM Pressroom.
  2. ^ "General Motors To Lay Off 1,500 Employees At Rayong Plant In Thailand". GM Authority. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  3. ^ "General Motors Operations In Thailand". GM Pressroom. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  4. ^ a b Fourie, Louis F. (2016-12-27). On a Global Mission: The Automobiles of General Motors International Volume 3. FriesenPress. ISBN 978-1-4602-9690-5.
  5. ^ a b "General Motors Thailand: Growing Regional Presence". Board of Investment Thailand. 2006-02-15. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  6. ^ "Great Wall says to buy GM's Thailand car plant". Reuters. 2020-02-17. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  7. ^ Thaiger, The (2020-02-18). "Thailand's General Motors plant sold to China's Great Wall Motors". The Thaiger. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  8. ^ "GM to withdraw from Thailand this year". Bangkok Post Public Company. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  9. ^ Conklin, David W. (2006). Cases in the Environment of Business: International Perspectives. SAGE. ISBN 978-1-4129-1436-9.
  10. ^ "GM President presents Chevrolet Zafira to Thai Red Cross". ryt9.com (in Thai). Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  11. ^ "Fiat Auto Thailand Ltd. And General Motors (Thailand) Ltd. Announce Agreement To Manufacture Alfa Romeo 156 In Thailand". www.autointell.com. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  12. ^ "Equipment Boost For 2002 Alfa Romeo 166 - AutoWeb News". 2001-05-11. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  13. ^ "GM CEO/President Inaugurates 1st Saab-Chevrolet Dealership". ryt9.com (in Thai). Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  14. ^ "Flagships star in GM Holden's export record". Next Car. February 1, 2006. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  15. ^ "GM Announces Restructure of Thailand Operations As Part of Southeast Asia Transformation Plan". Chevrolet Thailand. 2015-02-26. Archived from the original on 2020-06-05. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  16. ^ "New Chevrolet SUV confirmed for Thai sales in 2019". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  17. ^ "2019 Chevrolet Captiva: Thai prices and specs". Bangkok Post. 2019-09-09. Archived from the original on 2020-06-05. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  18. ^ "Chevrolet Captiva 1.5T Premier (2019) review". Bangkok Post. 2020-09-27. Archived from the original on 2020-06-05. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  19. ^ "General Motors (GM) ประกาศยุติการขายรถยนต์ Chevrolet ในประเทศไทย ในปี 2563 นี้ !" [General Motors (GM) announced that it will stop selling Chevrolet cars in Thailand in 2020!]. HeadLight Magazine (in Thai). 2020-02-17. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  20. ^ "GM's Factory Sell-Off To China's Great Wall Motors Continues, This Time In Thailand". Carscoops. 2020-02-17. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  21. ^ "GWM and GM Sign Agreement for Purchase of GM Thailand Rayong Manufacturing Facility-GWM News-GWM". GWM Global. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  22. ^ "GM Kills Holden Brand As It Withdraws From Right-Hand Drive Markets". Carscoops. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  23. ^ Widiutomo, Aditya. "Bye bye!, Inilah Produksi Terakhir Chevrolet di Asia Tenggara" [Bye bye! This is Chevrolet's last production in Southeast Asia]. Oto Driver (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  24. ^ "BOI". www.boi.go.th. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
  25. ^ "2011 Thailand Automobile Industry Review". Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  26. ^ "Thailand cars sales report 2014". Headlight Magazine (in Thai). Thailand. 2015-02-01. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  27. ^ "Thailand cars sales report 2015". Headlight Magazine (in Thai). Thailand. 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  28. ^ "Thailand cars sales report 2016". Headlight Magazine (in Thai). Thailand. 2017-01-26. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  29. ^ "Thailand cars sales report 2017". Headlight Magazine (in Thai). Thailand. 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
  30. ^ "Sales Report เจาะลึกยอดขายรถยนต์ ธันวาคม 61 + สรุปปี 2018 แบ่งตาม Segment". HeadLight Magazine (in Thai). 2019-05-09. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
  31. ^ "Thailand - Flash report, Sales volume, 2019 - MarkLines Automotive Industry Portal". www.marklines.com. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
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