Thailand's auto industry moves towards EcoEVs

BANGKOK, September 20 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Industry, is driving ahead the domestic automobile industry towards the development of ecology-electric vehicles (Eco-EVs), the next step of ecology cars (eco-cars). Thai Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana told journalists on September 19 that he has assigned his ministry's Office of Industrial Economics to further develop the domestic environmental-friendly auto industry from the production of eco-cars, which are compact sedans run by petroleum within the "green" standard, to eco-electric vehicles (EcoEVs) completely driven by electric motors. Uttama said he has also suggested the Office of Industrial Economics to work together with the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) and the Eastern Economic Corridor Office of Thailand (EECO) to provide updated information to international automobile firms that are interested in investing in the production of EcoEVs in Thailand. According to the minister, two large automobile manufacturers, including Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd. and BMW Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd., have expressed their interested in investing in the production of EcoEVs in Thailand. The minister stated that he has suggested relevant agencies, including BOI and the Thai-German Institute (TGI), to promote more use of robots in the domestic auto production in the 2019 fiscal year, which starts on October 1, 2018. The minister revealed that 229 auto factories in Thailand were promoted and supported by TGI to adopt the robotic system for their auto production with their total investment fund, approved by BOI, of about 3.5 billion baht in the 2018 fiscal year, which has been targeted to enhance their auto-productivity by about 30 per cent on average based on an assessment report expected to be issued next month. (TNA)