Source: Thailand Automotive Institute (TAI)
Group1: Automotive Assemblers
Currently, there are eighteen assemblers as listed below. All assemblers are subsidiaries of transnational corporations (TNCs) or joint ventures. With the presence of most major car makers, Thailand has already become one of key production bases among global players from Japan, USA, and Europe.
Before 2000s, these carmakers only carried out production in Thailand, while more sophisticated activities like design and R&D were done in their home countries. Since the 2000s, TNCs’ investment strategies in the automotive industry have started to change, as they have begun to invest in more technologically sophisticated activities in Thailand, such as advanced engineering, process and product design, and advanced testing and validation. Several major automotive TNCs (mostly Japanese) have set up technical centers in Thailand, separated from their normal production plants (for example Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Ltd.; Nissan Technical Center Southeast Asia Co., Ltd.; ISUZU Technical Center Asia Co., Ltd.; and Honda R&D Asia Pacific Co., Ltd.). The R&D activities of these companies began by focusing on modification of their already designed products to fit local demands and to exploit local advantages, such as analysis of appropriate local natural raw materials and parts to meet international standards or the standards of importing countries such as the European Union’s regulations. Nonetheless, there is a trend that more advanced product design will be carried out here.
The numbers of automotive parts manufacturers are around 2,289 firms which can be classified into two groups (Group 2 and Group 3).
Group 2: Direct Suppliers or OEM Suppliers (1st Tier)
This group consists of 648 auto part manufacturers who manufacture and directly supply auto parts to auto assemblers. Of total, 458 auto part manufacturers are those producing parts for car assemblers and the remaining 190 auto part manufacturers are those making parts for motorcycle assemblers.
Group 3: Indirect Suppliers or Raw Material Suppliers (2nd /3rd Tier)
This group includes raw material suppliers for the 1st tier suppliers, and subcontractors for the 1st tier suppliers. There are approximately 1,641 indirect suppliers.
These indigenous Thai part suppliers have low technological capabilities and are largely dependent on technology provided by JV-partners or licensers, but also they cannot absorb the transferred technology due to a lack of skilled labour (Brooker Group, 2002, pp. 2-14). In addition, the College of Management, Mahidol University (2006) has examined the technological capabilities of six groups of automotive component suppliers, namely, suspension and brake, interior, exterior, engine, electronic, and drive transmission. Their results show that,
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