Ayutthaya floods – UMW Toyota and Honda Malaysia comment
The Thai province of Ayutthaya is currently being hit by severe floods and latest reports suggest that things may even get worse. The affected areas are home to many industries, and repercussions, while unlikely to rival that of the Japan earthquake, are likely to be far reaching.
Many automakers have set up plants in various parts of Thailand such as AutoAlliance and GM in Rayong, Nissan in Samutprakarn, and Mercedes-Benz in Bangkok. Some of these plants serve as the manufacturing hubs for their respective brands in the region, and in the case of GM and Mercedes, plans are already underway for the construction of engine manufacturing facilities alongside their plants.
Toyota Motor Thailand Co Ltd (TMT) has manufacturing facilities at Samrong, Gateway and Ban Pho. None of them are directly affected as they are situated away from the flooded region, but some suppliers are reportedly experiencing delays in supplying of parts.
UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd has recently released a statement assuring customers in Malaysia that at this moment there is no interruption to the supply of Toyota models retailed by the company. Delivery schedules are not affected at present. The company has also stated it is monitoring the situation and will be updating the public from time to time.
Things, however, are less rosy with Honda, as the plant of Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co Ltd (HATC) is situated in the flooded region and has to halt production along with several of its suppliers located in the same region. HATC supplies a considerable number of parts for Honda models – City, Civic, Accord, and CR-V – that are assembled by the Alor Gajah plant in Malacca.
“We regret that there will be delay in product delivery as the production in our plant slows down due to the suspension of parts supply. Currently, the delivery timing for all our CBU (complete built-up) units are not affected,” said Mr. Yoichiro Ueno, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Honda Malaysia.
Describing the situation, Ueno said, “At the time of statement, the HATC remains flooded and it is unapproachable. This is making it difficult for us to estimate the time of recovery. However, we will assess the situation closely on a daily basis and hope for the best though we foresee the recovery may take longer than we originally expected. We would like to thank our customers for their understanding and support and we will continue to provide the best products and services despite the challenging situation the company is facing.”
“We would like to express our deepest condolences to the flood victims in Thailand and we hope that the country would make prompt recovery from the damages imposed by the natural disaster,” Ueno added.
