Singapore: Japanese car maker Nissan Motor Corporation says it is committed to focusing on small automobiles in keeping with the automotive policies of Asean members including Thailand.
"Fuel efficiency and small vehicles are still the trend in the global market, and this is the main impetus of each country [in this region] in stimulating their local manufacturing," vice-chairman Toshiyuki Shiga said yesterday in the city-state.
"Not only in Thailand and Indonesia but also in Malaysia and the Philippines, Nissan is set to honour their automotive policies."
Thailand was the first country in the region to introduce an eco-car scheme, in 2007, attracting investment of 28.8 billion baht.
Mitsubishi, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki participated in the first phase, with combined annual capacity of 585,000 vehicles.
Nissan was the first contender to launch their eco-cars, the March in 2010 and the Almera in 2011.
As of last month, the Japanese company was responsible for 53.6% of the accumulated production of 712,292 eco-cars in Thailand and 54.1% of accumulated domestic sales of 369,509 of the vehicles.
"The firm has done very well in Thailand with its March and Almera eco-cars. And 40,000 Marches a year are exported to Japan," Mr Shiga said.
The Thai government early this year launched the second phase of its eco-car scheme. A total of 10 car makers including the five existing ones officially applied for the second phase, which like the first phase carries Board of Investment privileges.
The five newcomers are Mazda, Ford, General Motors, SAIC Motor-CP and Volkswagen.
Nissan plans to spend 6.86 billion baht to make 123,000 eco-cars and 2 million auto parts a year at its Bang Na-Trat Road factory run by Nissan Motor (Thailand).
"There's been no recent updates about the second phase, but Nissan is still committed to the eco-car scheme, which it expects will be as successful as its pickup truck production," Mr Shiga said.
Last year, four car makers applied to Indonesia for privileges under its low-cost green car — Toyota (including Daihatsu), Honda, Suzuki and Nissan.
Nissan has introduced the Datsun Go and the Go+ in that country.
The company built a second Indonesian factory in Purwakarta on Java at a cost of ¥33 billion (9.17 billion baht), dedicated to assembling Datsun vehicles.