Chon Buri: Japanese car maker Suzuki Motor Corporation is revving up eco-car exports to offset the bearish mood of the saturated local market, aiming to ship 4,000 units a month.
Suzuki's Celerio eco-car began shipping to Europe from Laem Chabang port yesterday.
"Some 1,000 units a month of the
Suzuki Swift, the first eco-car, have been exported since late 2013 to Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, while 3,000
units of the Suzuki Celerio will be shipped monthly to the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands," said Suzuki Motor Thailand president Takayuki Sugiyama.
Suzuki began shipping the Celerio on Tuesday with 841 units bound for Europe from Namyong Terminal's A5 pier at Laem Chabang port.
The company expects export orders from Europe to reach 30,000 cars a year.
Suzuki was one of five Japanese makers to apply for incentives under the first phase of the eco-car scheme in 2007.
Its plant at Rayong's Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate is key to the eco-car strategy, supporting domestic sales and exports.
Suzuki spent 8 billion baht in 2011 on the first phase of the Rayong plant for the Swift, with annual production of 50,000 cars.
The Swift was introduced locally on March 22, 2012 to coincide with the tax rebate scheme for first-time car buyers.
In early 2013, Suzuki spent 1.3 billion baht to raise production capacity at its existing plant to 100,000 vehicles.
The Celerio is an offshoot of the A:Wind concept introduced at last year's Thailand International Motor Expo.
The new eco-car made its sales debut in India, with Thailand becoming its second market on May 29.
The Celerio is powered by a 1.0-litre engine, smaller than the Swift's 1.2-litre.
Suzuki Motor Thailand expects to make 100,000 eco-cars annually by 2016.
Suzuki was one of 10 car makers to join the eco-car scheme's second phase, whose application period expired on March 31.
Mr Sugiyama said Suzuki planned to invest about 5 billion baht in second-phase activity.
General manager Wallop Treererkngam said the domestic market started to shrink last year because of the market situation and cloudy economic picture.
The firm has cut its target sales from 40,000 units to 30,000 this year.
Last year Suzuki sold 45,200 cars.
In a related development, Industry Minister Chakramon Phasukvanich said Thailand's car shipments were forecast to grow to 1.4 million units next year, driven by the global economic recovery, from 1.2 million at year-end 2014.
"We believe next year is promising thanks to the global recovery and Thailand's eco-car production," he said. "Thailand is now the production base for the automotive industry and exports."
According to Mr Chakramon, the ministry puts this year's car production at 2.1 million vehicles, with an increase to 2.4 million in 2015.