Mitsubishi upgrades three plants

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/315198/mitsubishi-upgrades-three-plants

Mitsubishi will spend 4-5 billion baht next year to upgrade three car assembly plants to increase the output of existing models and prepare for new models.

Nobuyuki Murahashi, the president of Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand), said 1 billion baht will be slated for the increase in production capacity for Mitsubishi's third plant at Laem Chabang.

The third plant, which currently produces Mirage eco-cars for domestic and international markets, started commercial production early this year with an annual capacity of 150,000 units.

Mitsubishi will increase the capacity of the third plant to 200,000 units next year to meet the rising demand for Mirages at home and abroad.

Another 3-4 billion baht will be used for maintenance of the first and second plants, also in Laem Chabang, and for equipment replacement to prepare for the production of new models.

The first and second plants presently have a combined annual capacity of 310,000 vehicles.

Once the third plant expansion has been completed, the Thailand plant will become the world's largest vehicle production base for Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, said Mr Murahashi.

The plants in Japan will only produce vehicles to serve the domestic market and as a base to develop new technology for Mitsubishi vehicles.

Mr Murahashi said Mirage production in Thailand is 13,000 units per month _ 4,000 units for the domestic market and 9,000 for export, mainly to Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.

 Since the domestic demand for Mirages is growing rapidly, Mitsubishi will increase monthly output to 6,000 vehicles by year-end.