Eco-Car

According to a recent posting on antara.co.id, Indonesia might have reason to worry about the impending flood of "eco-car" models coming out of Thailand.

Bambang Trisulo, Chairman of Indonesia`s Motor Vehicle Industries Association, believes that given the high production volumes required by the program, many of the cars will be exported and this could seriously threaten the Indonesian industry.

Either there is an error in the article below, or Eco-Cars are going to be expensive. Taken from the Bangkok Post, the article below is mostly stuff you will have already heard about the Eco-Car project.

But it seems that this article does answer a question that many are interested to know: What will Eco-Cars cost? Or perhaps the best way to put it is: How cheap will Eco-Cars be?

As you scan down through the article you eventually meet this statement:

Thailand's small eco-cars will be selling in the range of $16,000 and up.

Suzuki Motor Corporation was one of the companies to submit an application to participate in the Thai Eco Car project, and now they are moving forward and have plans to build a plant in Rayong Province.

Production at the plant is expected to start in 2010.

Suzuki will invest USD 90 million in order to establish a manufacturing company in Thailand, and a further USD 287 million in the construction of the plant. The plant will create 1200 jobs.

How about this for an amazing feat of stingy design and cost cutting measures? Tata seem to have done it, and after 4 years of head scratching the Indian giant has come up with a car that costs around US$2,500. That is less than THB 75,000!!

The Nano is designed to allow Indian families to move up to four wheels, and whatever you might say about the safety or comfort levels of the Nano, when considered next to a motorbike, this thing is a big improvement. For a start it probably won't go very fast with its tiny 623 cc two cylinder engine.

Tata Motors are billing the Nano as a "People's Car".......

Volkswagen has applied to participate in the Eco Car project and the German auto giant submitted its application right on time for the November 30th deadline. Volkswagen is the 7th manufacturer to apply for the Eco Car project, joining Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota, Mitsubishi and the Indian newcomer: Tata.

What will Volkswagen bring to the Eco Car field? Eco Car project details are still sketchy but speculation is fun. Let's have a look at the VW Eco Car contenders.....

Nissan are not exactly racking up the sales in Thailand, and with a mere 40,000 units sold in the Kingdom in 2007, Nissan will be hoping that 2008 will be a better year. Of course industry sales were lower than forecast in 2007, with just 630,000 units sold, mostly due to the political climate.

But it is a new year, and Nissan are hoping that post-election stability will lead to increased consumer confidence, and perhaps a spending frenzy. But naturally they won't be sitting by and waiting for the sales to pour in. Here's what they have planned.....

Eco Cars are on the way to Thailand, and if you had never been exposed to any news outside of Thailand you'd almost think that it was a new concept.

But, as this video will demonstrate, even today's "small cars" are actually big! And inefficient!

The world's smallest production car:

Ask the "expert" analysts about the Thai auto market and they will tell you things like: The Thai public hate hatchbacks, they want big cars with big boots, and they want pickup trucks. I think the "experts" are wrong. I think that the Thai motoring public would lap up a Eco-Car, and the sooner Toyota bring the Aygo to Thailand the better.

Of course there are other small cars that could come to Thailand, but the Aygo has the most going for it. First.... it's a Toyota, the company that dominates virtually every segment of the market in Thailand.

If you have been following the Thai automotive scene over the last decade or so you will be aware of the rapid growth of the industry. Aspirations to become the "Detroit of Asia" is the obsessive driving force behind the Thai auto industry, and the term has been flashed around so regularly by policy makers and the media in Thailand that I'm starting to ignore it completely.

The auto manufacturing industry is very important to Thailand, and the goal is to become one of the top-10 auto manufacturers in the world by 2010. But is this possible for a nation that only seems to know how to make pickup trucks?