 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Defunct | 2020; 5 years ago (2020) |
| Fate | Ceased production and sales |
| Successor | Great Wall Motors Thailand (physical plant) |
| Headquarters | |
| Products | Automobiles Internal combustion engines |
Production output | 1,361,000 vehicles and 500,000 powertrains (total per August 2019)[1] |
| Brands | |
Number of employees | 1,900 (February 2020)[2] |
| Parent | General Motors (100%) |
| Subsidiaries |
|
| Website | chevrolet.co.th |
General Motors (Thailand)Limited (GMT) was a holding company of sales and manufacturingsubsidiaries ofGeneral Motors (GM) inThailand.[3]
The company was registered in 1993 as a sales company, and opened itsmanufacturing plant in 2000.[4] At its height, GM Thailand exported vehicles to most regions in the world, including South America, Central America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan.[5]
In February 2020, GM announced that it would withdraw from theThai market and the Rayong plant would be acquired byGreat Wall Motors by the end of 2020.[6][7] The company continued to support existing Chevrolet owners for ongoing aftersales, warranty and service.[8]
General Motors cars, particularlyOpel andHolden cars were assembled in Thailand from 1970 through several local assemblers, includingBangchan General Assembly and Asoke Motors. Several models assembled in the era were theHolden Monaro LS,Chevrolet De Ville andOpel Rekord.
In May 1996, General Motors decided to build a manufacturing plant inEastern Seaboard Industrial Estate inRayong for itsSoutheast Asian expansion. Investment to neighbouringIndonesia was ruled out due to the requirement of 60 percent local content imposed by the Indonesian government, while the Thailand government granted GM's request to drop the local content requirement.[9] The site is located right next toAutoAlliance Thailand, a plant jointly owned by fellowDetroit carmaker,Ford Motor Company along with Mazda.
Modelled after GM'sEisenach plant inGermany,[10] the Rayong plant was scheduled to produce 100,000 to 150,000 vehicles annually, with 80 percent of these to be exported. The plant was opened in May 2000, producing theChevrolet Zafira.[1] The Zafira was exported to the neighbouring Southeast Asian countries and Mexico, and also exported to Australia as the Holden Zafira and Japan as the Subaru Traviq. By 2002, the Zafira was the number one selling car in Thailand's domestic family wagon segment with 3,946 units sold.[5] Between 2002 and 2004, the plant also assembled theAlfa Romeo 156 under contract withFiat.[11][12] The company also imported and distributed Saab vehicles to the country.[13] Starting in 2003, theHolden Commodore was badged as theChevrolet Lumina inThailand for theVY andVZ model series. Exports lasted until 2005.[14]
Following GM's acquisition ofDaewoo Motors, GM Thailand started manufacturing several Chevrolet-badged Daewoosubcompact andcompact passenger cars, starting from theChevrolet Optra sedan in June 2003, Optra estate in March 2005, and bothAveo sedan andCaptiva in June 2007. For one-ton pickups, GM Thailand manufactured theColorado, anIsuzu-derived pickup from March 2004. It was exported to Australia as theHolden Colorado from 2008.
In August 2008, GM invested US$445 million to build an engine and transmission plant. Located adjacent to the assembly plant, the plant was opened in 2011 as the General Motors Powertrain (Thailand) Limited.[4] It produced the 2.5 L and 2.8 LDuramax diesel engine, later also exported to theUnited States.
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After losing market share for years, GM announced a restructuring plan for its Thailand operations in February 2015.[15] The plan included phasing out passenger cars and focusing on SUVs and pickups instead. As a result, the Sonic was discontinued in May 2015 and the Cruze followed in 2017. Later, GM Thailand also stopped production of the Captiva in 2018, leaving theTrailblazer SUV and Colorado pickup in the line-up. GM executives were considering the Trax subcompact SUV to be produced in the country. However, a business case for theTrax could not be justified due to thin margins and low salesforecast.[16] In March 2019, the company announced its plan to market the second generation Captiva in Thailand. It was showcased at theBangkok International Motor Show 2019 and released to the market in September 2019.[17] Imported from Indonesia, the car is a rebadgedBaojun 530/Wuling Almaz.[18]
On 17 February 2020, Andy Dunstan, President of GM Strategic Markets, Alliances and Distributors, announced that Chevrolet would be withdrawn from the Thai domestic vehicle market and GM would cease vehicle and powertrain production at the Rayong manufacturing facilities.[19][20] Chinese automakerGreat Wall Motor agreed to acquire the plant by the end of 2020 to help its expansion inASEAN.[21] This decision also led to the demise of the Holden brand in Australia and New Zealand, as GM Thailand was the main source of Holden trucks.[22] GM Thailand's last vehicle, a blue Chevrolet Colorado, rolled off the Rayong line in May 2020 as the 934,758th Colorado produced by GM Thailand.[23]
| Calendar year | Sales | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2005[24] | 33,939 | 6 |
| 2011[25] | 31,503 | |
| 2014[26] | 25,799 | 8 |
| 2015[27] | 17,456 | 9 |
| 2016[28] | 14,931 | 9 |
| 2017[29] | 18,771 | 9 |
| 2018[30] | 20,313 | 10 |
| 2019[31] | 15,161 | 10 |
| Domestic manufacturers | |
|---|---|
| Foreign companies with operations | |
| Defunct companies | |
| Components | |
| Related topics | |
