Last updated on May 6th, 2021 at 08:10 am
More than 300,000 Chevrolet cars in Thailand risk losing maintenance services after the US car maker General Motors (GM) announced a halt in sales of the Chevrolet brand locally by 2020.
GM is selling manufacturing facilities in Rayong under a purchase agreement with Chinese car maker Great Wall Motors. Both parties want to close the deal and hand over the site within this year. Titikorn Lertsirirungsun, manager for Southeast Asia at research firm LMC Automotive, said GM would provide maintenance services for local Chevrolet owners for the next 5-10 years, depending on the stock of spare parts. “But LMC has yet to witness clear-cut measures from GM to support Thai customers or pay severance to local employees. These measures should be announced soon,” he said.
GM entered Thailand in January 2000 and later established two manufacturing lines at Rayong’s WHA Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate — a vehicle assembly plant under GM Thailand with annual production capacity for 180,000 units and an engine plant under GM Powertrain Thailand with annual capacity for 120,000 units — for a combined investment of US$1.4 billion. The vehicle plant produced 1.4 million units under the Chevrolet and Holden nameplates. The engine plant has made over 500,000 Duramax diesel engines. GM’s announcement on Monday said the sale of the Rayong facilities is subject to Thai regulatory approval. GM and Great Wall signed a binding term sheet for vehicle assembly and engine production to be transferred to Great Wall by 2020. To read more latest news from thailand.
