The worst bout of flooding to hit Thailand in decades is wreaking absolute havoc on automotive production in the kingdom, among the many businesses and livelihoods that have been affected.
A large number of automotive-related companies have fallen victim to the recent bout of flooding, which has inudated huge swathes of the country. Among these are Honda Automobile Thailand, which has been forced to half production at its Ayutthaya plant due to this; the plant remained flooded as of yesterday, and was unapproachable.
The suspension of plant production in Ayutthaya area is expected to have an inevitable impact on Honda Malaysia’s production as HATC, along with its suppliers in the same region whose operations are also suspended, provides considerable number of parts for the Malaysian CKD operation for the City, Civic, Accord and CR-V models.
According to Honda Malaysia, the company has since Monday reduced its output in Melaka to prolong the production, using on-hand stock, and said it regrets that there will be delay in product delivery, with production in its plant slowing down due to the suspension of parts supply.
Elsewhere in the country, other automakers were also struggling to keep production going, according to reports. Nissan said that 20 parts suppliers with factories in Ayutthaya province were hit by the flood and, with its parts inventory drying out as of yesterday, was trying to figure out a way to continue production using alternative parts from today.
Mitsubishi Motors has suspended operations at its vehicle assembly plant in Chonburi, starting from yesterday evening to Saturday, also again due to a parts shortages, and hasn’t yet decided what to do from next Monday onwards.
Toyota also has stopped vehicle assembly through Saturday, and has asked a domestic manufacturer to produce some of the parts, including aluminum wheels, that it made in Thailand, until the flooding, the reports add.
Suppliers were also hit – Tohoku Pioneer shut its factory, which builds automotive audio equipment parts, in Rojana Industrial Park after the facility was inundated. Even after the water is pumped out, the restoration of essential utilities is expected to take some time.
On the non-automotive front, the likes of Nikon and Canon have also been hit. Nikon’s SLR (single-lens reflex) camera plant was flooded, but details are murky because personnel cannot get close to the facility. The company is believed to have about a month’s worth of stockpile of digital SLR cameras – if production equipment is underwater, the factory will be unable to resume operations quickly even after the water is pumped out.
As for Canon, it has decided to temporarily shift production out of the Hi-Tech Industrial Estate, in Ayutthaya, which is 60 km away from Bangkok, after it was inundated when a protective barrier broke – the site is home to factories and plants belonging to nearly 100 Japanese corporations. All factories in the industrial park have suspended operations.
Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.
padan muka nak bina kilang kat indon, siam & filipin.. sekarang kereta dah jadi boat…keh keh keh
Jangan ketawakan orang lain kerana nasib buruk yang menimpa mereka. kalau kena pada diri sendiri, sanggup ke kalau orang gelakkan kamu? Kamu kena sedar, 30% beras dan 14% gula yang kita gunakan datangnya dari Thailand. Mahu atau tidak, kita juga perlu bersedia menghadapi tempias dari ribut & taufan tu…
Alamak MoFaz, abisla beras siam aku naik harga.
If this flood happen every year in Thailand, we stand a better chance for being the automotive hub for Jap in future since we have more highlands.
Hope I don’t get faulty lenses in the near future.
jangan mimpi la johndeep. biarpun thailand 12 bulan banjir, industri automotif tetap tidak akan masuk negara ini (malaysia). jika mau ia masuk, nak kena langkah mayat mahathir si mamakkuti. nak kena tamatkan riwayat proton dan perodua. kedua-dua syarikat copyhcat ini berhasrat utk membolot kesemua duit rakyat malaysia hasil jualan kereta buruk mereka.
siapa kata? Honda dan Toyota ada buat kat Malaysia la. Brand lain: BMW, Merc, Peugeot, VW….
ei mangkuk,other people are suffering and you’re so happy about it?shame on u
Hari nih mu gelakkan orang, hari lain mungkin kamu jugak akan terkena nasib yang sama..
Masuk neraka ko gelakkan org yg terima ujian tuhan
neraka atau syurga tu hak tuhan…….yg konfomnyer perbuatanyer tu salah
Padan muka la the investors…..the investors know the risk they are taking, why still invest???
My pity goes to the rakyat of the countries at large, bcoz some part of me are also there -Pinoys, Nyonyas Genit, masat saao ngaam, hehehe………
So, for all the Japs, Deuscth, American etc, pls be the bloody idiots and continue to invest in the flood stricken, politically unstable, english illiterate environment…..Hurrrahhhhh…….!!!!
“… some part of me are also there…” – yeah, parts of you are definitely missing and i’d say it’s the brains you’re most in need of.
improve your own grammar and spelling first before condemning others in “english illiterate environment”.
typical internet ass clown.
Those who laugh last laugh the loudest. I have a feeling thailand will be much stronger after this flood.
Afterall, it still makes good business sense to go to thailand coz their market is growing, they got more people and they have good relationship with most of the ASEAN members except for cambodia.
We Malaysia on the other hand argues with Singapore, queral with Indon over some batik thing, fight with brunei over oil, support the terrorist group in south philipines and thailand….
very bad for trading.
“…support the terrorist group in south philipines and thailand … ” be careful with what your write latuk
hati kering punya org.
jgn kerana dengki, org lain kena bencana pun masi sanggup nak tertawa. salah kerajaan malaysia buat polisi melampau berkenaan industri automotif dan malah industri2 lain. jika bukan kerana sikap terlalu menjaga kepentingan industri tempatan yg “hidup segan mati ndak mau”, malaysia adalah negara yg patut menjadi tumpuan syarikat2 perindustrian terutamanya kilang2 kereta. jangan nanti bila kawasan kamu terkena bencana seperti banjir org thailand/indon/philipin kata “dahlah industri lemah, kena banjir lg”. kesian.
maybe they shud move the detroit to malaysia instead
time to setup a branch in malaysia… maybe smaller but flexible in manufacturing various parts….
Eh, taking delight in the misery of others?
Good job. Your parents must be proud.
yeah,i think like parents like son la this awang ali…
Anyway, yes correct. Some of our auto industry already effected due to this.Supply already halt.
Firm until Jan’12.
So unfortunate for the Jap manufacturers & supply chain.. it’s a double whammy… first tsunami hit their homeland, now massive flood in Thailand…
That’s what I thought too….! all those eco-geeks anti car people must be really happy right now because the cars has fallen victim to mother nature……
Yes, those countries might be affected but don’t think we’re invincible, remember the Titanic? everyone thought it was unsinkable, in the end, they thought wrong.
Maybe Malaysia car plants should take extra precaution against natural disasters, that’s all that we can hope right now.
But they will recover fast …………
A Carmakers headache in Asia:
Japan – Flooded by Tsunami ….
Thailand – Flooded by Rain ….
Malaysia – Flooded by Cronies and one-sided policies…
So, Where else can they go??
go back to their kimochi land larr… bloody sucker.. without tax still 99k for insight..
Dude,
Insight cost RM99K as it is fully imported from Japan. same as Prius
All the imported/non-national cars are costly because of taxes imposed by Malaysian Government. Have a look on the price of cars sellling in Labuan, they are much cheaper than here without bloody-sucker taxes.
So who can we blame that?? Japanese car markers / Government???
World CO2 emission and long term local deforestation is the major cause of flood at this scale.
Couldn’t agree more, I watched the inconvenient truth by Al Gore, years ago and everything that he said is true, heavy rains/unpredictable, rising global temperatures, outbreak(H1N1 pandemic)…
We have the tsunami, earthquake, famine in Somalia, and ongoing war in the Middle East….
oh dear,
What a world we are living in today.
@awang ali
kalau kilang Honda,Toyota buka kat Malaysia alamak gulung tikar Proton dan Produa. harga kereta Jepun jadi murah kerana tidak dikenakan duti import,
jadi siapa nak beli kereta Proton-Produa yg kualiti faham-faham jelah, jauh berbeza dari kereta buatan jepun
Memang ada kilang Honda dan Toyota di Malaysia. Kilang Honda terletak di Pegoh, Melaka dan kilang Toyota terletak di Shah Alam. Kilang Nissan pula terletak di Segambut. Jadi H, T dan N ada kilang memasang kereta di Malaysia. Honda, Toyota dan Nissan adalah Japan Big 3.
ko pasti ka itu kilang dorang.? ka pinjam dari kompeni pemasangan lain? kalau betul kenapa hampir setiap model kereta toyota/honda nak kena tunggu thailand buat, lancar dan xport baru malaysia bole jual? apa kilang2 yg saudara honda power buat? takkan sebagai perhiasan saja.. tapi kalau jadi perhiasan pun rasanya ngam juga, pasal da ada sorang yg kena…. oh yeah….
Haa, Honda Power dah jawab tu, tak gulung tikar pun Proton….
*nanti ade yang jawab pulak – “memang la tak gulung tikar, sebab Govt backup”*
*aku jawab siap2 senang*
bagusla kamu da jawab sendiri. semuanya gara2 polisi berat sebelah. ko memanglah ndak kena tempias kesan harga yg dibawakan oleh proton&perodua pasal tiada siapa sangka yg ko tu salah seorg kroni BN=BARANG NAIK.
“Nikon’s SLR camera plant was flooded, but details are murky..”
Details are murky.. pun intended? :p
They need to be clearer on this issue
Focus on the issue guys!
Don’t have such a narrow view. Zoom out and have a bigger picture.
Takziah…
Mungkin SME Malaysia boleh tolong supply parts kepada assemblers Jepun di Malaysia. Kita perlu berdoa supaya kita tidak mengalami nasib yang sama dan sentiasa bersyukur… Amin.
hope malaysia can take advantage of this ans steal some potential japanese investors to relocate to Malaysia…but most of al..hope the Thais are all safe.
my favourite tomyam, is the murky one. very very sour and spicy. very nice. hope my tomyam is safe in bangkok.
Heh2, kuranglah bonus aku tahun ni
come come to the lovely peaceful land of malaysia! the only disaster that you could face here is if some cronies rats start sniffing on your profit money
My sympathies for the Thai people who are affected by the massive floods.
Mother nature is angry and is striking back.
This is a massive disaster for Thailand and her people. I wish them a speedy recovery.
As we all know the polar ice caps are melting, that’s why there are floods all around the world. If we don’t change we humans will not survive here. We can help by reducing emissions, permanent landfill waste and all kinds of pollution.
It shows the weakness of putting everything under one roof. Especially if that area is prone to natural disasters. Maybe they need to rethink their parts procurement strategy. The Ayutthaya region flood causes majority of the Thai based car makers to slow down production. You saved on logistics but when natural disasters happen you have no backup. Not good for the whole auto industry.
Kalau Proton n Perodua kena banjir, mereka masih beroperasi di Malaysia.
Kalau la Honda, Toyota n syarikat yg lain buka di Malaysia n KENA BANJIR…… Mereka AKAN berfikir Berpindah ke NEGARA LAIN….apa yang TINGGAL……Proton n Perodua juga….
Syarikat2 di Thailand bila2 masa boleh ‘belah’ dari Thailand.
Itu lah kelebihan bila mempunyai industri sendiri.