Thailand : Toyota says its investments on track in spite of turmoil

BANGKOK : September 5, 2008 - The three-month political standoff between the People Power Party-led government and the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has had no effect on Toyota's investment plans in Thailand.


Mitsuhiro Sonoda, president of Toyota Motor Thailand, said the Japanese automaker's diesel engine and hybrid Camry projects still continued as planned despite of the ongoing political crisis.

''We have immediately evaluated the situation after the government imposed the state of emergency on Tuesday in the wake of the fatal clashes between the pro-government [demonstrators] and the PAD,'' he said yesterday.

Toyota, like all Thai people, wants peace and economic stability to prevail.

Mr Sonoda said he was not in a position to give advice on ways to solve the crisis but he saw the media as the best organisation for this job.

Toyota yesterday introduced a minor change to its Hilux Vigo pickup trucks as scheduled. The company said the goal was to offer vehicles developed by Thai engineers.

Ninnart Chaithirapinyo, the vice-chairman of Toyota, said the postponement of the pickup-truck introduction would do more harm than good.

''The oil-price crisis has a bigger impact on the automobile industry than the political crisis does,'' he said.

The political problems, he said, should be solved by political means. The government and Parliament should be involved to help solve it.

[Source : Bangkok Post]