Honda's assembly plant in Ayutthaya opens again
Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co yesterday officially reopened its assembly plant in Ayutthaya that was forced to close for almost six months following last year's devastating floods.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra presided over the reopening ceremony at the Rojana Industrial Park that was also attended by top Honda executives. They included Honda Motor President and chief executive Takanobu Ito, Asian Honda Motor President and CEO Hiroshi Kobayashi, who is also president of Honda Automobile (Thailand), and Honda Automobile (Thailand) executive vice president Pitak Pruittisarikorn.
The prime minister said she attended the event because Honda is a large carmaker that has invested substantially in Thailand.
Industry Minister MR Pongsvas Svasti, Prime Minister’s Office Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisal and Japanese Ambassador Seiji Kojima were among the VIP guests.
Ito stressed Thailand’s importance as “a very important production base in the region” for Honda.
“Thailand is among the three key markets for Honda in the Asia and Oceania region, along with India and Indonesia. Thailand has been and will remain a very important production base in the region for Honda to supply quality products to meet customer demands in these markets, as well as tap the future potential of growing markets,” he said.
“Our operation in Thailand will maintain its major role as our R&D [research and development] and production base, as Honda Motor continues to invest in the growth of our operations here to supply products to the region,” he added.
Production at the assembly plant is expected to fully resume before the Songkran festival in mid-month, according to Honda executives, who said that the company planned to export about 40,000 units this year. It makes Brio, Jazz, City, Civic, Accord and CRV models for the Thai market and 30 other countries.
Ito also announced the setting up of the Honda Thailand Fund to help Thais cope with natural disasters in future. The company will donate Bt1,000 for every car sold, Bt100 for every motorcycle sold, and Bt10 for each car part sold in Thailand and expects the fund to total Bt300 million in the first year, based on current sales projections. The fund is targeted to reach Bt1 billion.
Production at the Ayutthaya factory was halted in early October when Rojana became the first industrial estate to be hit by severe flooding. In December, Honda destroyed 1,055 cars that were damaged in the floods at the plant.
