Thai auto production rises to 4-month high in January

Thailand’s automobile production in January significantly increased to 140,404 units, marking the highest level in the past four months since the megaflood submerged a number of provinces in October, according to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

Thai Automotive January output kickstarts into drive

The Thai automotive industry kicked off the year impressively with production surging in January over the previous month.

The industry was battered by floods last October and November but started recovering in December.

Total automobile production in January dropped by 3.98% year-on-year but increased by 41.2% from December to 140,404 units, the highest level since the industry was hit by the flood crisis.

Manila: Ford sales dropped 47% in January

Ford Group Philippines posted a 47-percent drop in vehicle sales to 367 units in January this year, from the 688 it sold in the same month last year, as the flood crisis in Thailand continued to take its toll on the supply and delivery of its vehicles.

THE GUARDIAN: Thailand flooding costs Lloyd's of London $2.2bn

Lloyd's of London has estimated that it is liable for $2.22bn (£1.4bn) of net claims from the flooding that devastated Thailand last year.

In a first calculation of its liability for the damage, released on Tuesday, the insurance market said the claims were unlikely to require members to make "material claims" on its central fund or reduce the overall level of capitalisation of the market.

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VW in talks with Proton, looks to grow regional presence

German automotive giant Volkswagen is looking to gain a bigger foothold in ASEAN and is now in talks with local carmaker Proton for a possible manufacturing tie-up, a Bloomberg reported today quoting a source.
According to the report, Volkswagen’s renewed interest stems from the recent takeover of the national carmaker by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary’s DRB-HICOM last month.

Volkswagen already has an existing relationship with DRB-HICOM, having sealed an assembly deal for the Passat executive saloon here for re-export in 2010.

Chevrolet Sets New Sales Record in December 2011

Bangkok, Thailand – Chevrolet Sales Thailand outpaced the industry with a new sales record in Thailand in December 2011, achieving a year-to-date growth of 58 percent and selling more than 4,300 vehicles – the highest since Chevrolet began operations in Thailand. Meanwhile, the automaker continued to make headway across major markets in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region, with sales for the region from January to December 2011 totaling 42,297 units, representing a year-to-date (YTD) growth of 46 percent over the same period in 2010.