Published on 05/12/2011
Toyota renews investment commitment to Thailand TOKYO : Toyota Motor Corporation announced at its 42nd Tokyo Motor Show it will expand investment in Thailand with the goal of focusing on automobile technology to meet future demands including minimising the impact from natural disasters.
Toyota unveils the four-seat electric FT-EV III at the Tokyo Motor Show on Friday.
The company plans to maintain its strong presence in the region and work with partners to make cars that are minimally affected by floods or tsunamis. Akio Toyoda, president and CEO, said the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and heavy floods in Thailand have led to the new focus. Previously Virabongsa Ramangura, chairman of Thailand's strategic committee for rehabilitation, met Mr Toyoda and discussed Toyota's plans in the kingdom. Toyota aims to manufacture 1 million cars here next year. The company launched a new campaign titled Reborn featuring wellknown cartoon character Doraemon to express that drivers should have fun
while driving much the same way Doraemon has lots of equipments solve emergency problems. Toyota unveiled six environmentally-friendly concept cars including the Fun-Vii (Fun Vehicle interactive internet) that heralds a future where people, cars and society are connected. The Prius Plug-in Hybrid combines features from both purely electric vehicles and gasoline-electric hybrids, using a new, high-capacity lithiumion battery that can be charged from a household outlet. With this vehicle would be of great interest to consumers concerned with fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, Boonchuan Wipasanawanich, general manager of public affairs for Toyota (Thailand), said it has no plans to introduce that car in Thailand because of the lack of roadside battery charging stations here. Drivers can charge the battery at their homes for city driving, but longdistance trips would be impossible, plus the high import taxes would dampen demand, he said. It may take 10 years for Thailand to introduce this technology after infrastructure development. Mr Boonchuan said the company is in the process of reviewing its production plan for next year while it tries to recover this year. Previously, the company planned to manufacture 600,000 units per year, but floods affected parts supply and it only restarted operations on Nov 21 at 50% of production capacity. He expected full production to resume in January next year.