Ford eyes Indonesia as new production center
Ford Motor Company has said it wants to make Indonesia its new production center in Southeast Asia to meet strong demand for cars in the region.
At present, more than 90 per cent of Ford’s production for the ten ASEAN countries is located in Thailand. In April, Ford opened a new $450 million manufacturing plant Rayong, southern Thailand, the company’s second plant in Thailand, pushing Ford’s production capacity to 445,000 cars annually.
However, the company is eyeing Indonesia as an alternative production base and studying options there as Thailand will be running at maximum capacity soon even with the second plant.
Ford officials said that Indonesia has “great potential” and brought Ford important sale rise in 2011 with the Fiesta model. But due to the lack of an established supply base, Thailand remains Ford’s focus for now.
Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa, added that “the Thai market is still slightly larger than Indonesia, although we expect the Indonesian market to be bigger than the Thai market shortly.”
The US auto maker also has small operations in Vietnam and the Philippines. The new Thailand plant is one out of eight new factories Ford aims to open across the Asia Pacific and Africa under its mid-term plan ending 2015. The region accounted for about 7.5 per cent of the automaker’s first-quarter revenue.
[caption id="attachment_2977" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Ford's Ranger pickup model, made in Thailand"][/caption] Ford Motor Company has said it wants to make Indonesia its new production center in Southeast Asia to meet strong demand for cars in the region. At present, more than 90 per cent of Ford's production for the ten ASEAN countries is located in Thailand. In April, Ford opened a new $450 million manufacturing plant Rayong, southern Thailand, the company's second plant in Thailand, pushing Ford's production capacity to 445,000 cars annually. However, the company is eyeing Indonesia as an alternative production base and studying options there as Thailand...
Ford Motor Company has said it wants to make Indonesia its new production center in Southeast Asia to meet strong demand for cars in the region.
At present, more than 90 per cent of Ford’s production for the ten ASEAN countries is located in Thailand. In April, Ford opened a new $450 million manufacturing plant Rayong, southern Thailand, the company’s second plant in Thailand, pushing Ford’s production capacity to 445,000 cars annually.
However, the company is eyeing Indonesia as an alternative production base and studying options there as Thailand will be running at maximum capacity soon even with the second plant.
Ford officials said that Indonesia has “great potential” and brought Ford important sale rise in 2011 with the Fiesta model. But due to the lack of an established supply base, Thailand remains Ford’s focus for now.
Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa, added that “the Thai market is still slightly larger than Indonesia, although we expect the Indonesian market to be bigger than the Thai market shortly.”
The US auto maker also has small operations in Vietnam and the Philippines. The new Thailand plant is one out of eight new factories Ford aims to open across the Asia Pacific and Africa under its mid-term plan ending 2015. The region accounted for about 7.5 per cent of the automaker’s first-quarter revenue.
