Flood-hit Honda waits for duty waiver to take effect
Honda Automobile (Thailand) is waiting for a new regulation on a duty waiver for the import of vehicles, which is under consideration by the Finance Ministry, before ordering cars from overseas to make up for the shortage cause by the flood.
Executive vice president Pitak Pruittisarikorn yesterday said the company had not placed orders for imported vehicles to sell in Thailand as the ministry had not yet approved the regulation waiving import duty in this circumstance. The carmaker had to suspend production in the Kingdom because of the floods.
The Cabinet last month approved the tax exemption for imported cars to alleviate the impact of the flooding on carmakers, especially hard-hit Honda. Both of its assembly plants in Rojana Industrial Park were inundated.
Pitak said Honda had orders for 40,000 vehicles waiting for delivery. The company is working rapidly to rehabilitate the two assembly plants in Ayutthaya province. It is committed to spending less time for rehabilitation than the period the plants were flooded.
"We will do everything as quickly as we can to resume production. We have ordered new machinery, as this will allow operations to resume faster than repairing the damages machines," he said.
Pitak said Honda would scrap about 1,000 damaged vehicles in Rojana Industrial Park on December 27 next Tuesday to ensure consumers that they will not delivered to the market.
Industry Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said the government had to consider the tax-waiver regulation cautiously to maintain impartiality towards carmakers in Thailand.
