Mitsubishi Factory 3 Tour, where the Mirage is made

Mitsubishi Factory 3 Tour, where the Mirage is made

About half an hour after completing my preview drive with the Mitsubishi Mirage, I find myself at the small car’s birthplace. The area is called Laem Chabang Industrial Estate located in the province Chonburi in Thailand.

Despite Bangkok is far from where I am, about 100 km northwest of here, its location is strategic. The factory is only 3.5 km away from the Laem Chabang Deep Sea shipping port where it receives parts and exports complete built-up cars to 140 countries around the world. In this sense, logistics are kept simple.

Mitsubishi Factory 3 Tour, where the Mirage is made

In total, there are three factories inside Mitsubishi’s 1,060,000 square-metres land, which was established in January 1987. Factory One and Two have produced vehicles such as the Triton, Pajero Sport and Lancer EX. These factories are old.

The third is brand new. Its robots and lights were officially powered up in March 2012 for the specific task of producing the Mirage. This specialised responsibility comes from the factory’s ability to put together the high tensile steel frame that brings the weight of the small car down.

Mitsubishi Factory 3 Tour, where the Mirage is made

It cost the Japanese carmaker THB 7,000,000,000 or about RM690 million to build this plant. The factory features a high and heat protected roof to keep things cool inside. On the floor, each stage of the production is strategically placed so that the entire manufacturing flow becomes one simple process – press, body, paint then assembly.

A thing to note here is that the paint shop uses water-based paint, which reduces VOC and carbon dioxide. Mitsubishi claims that they are the first in Thailand to use water-based paints to colour the cars. Just in case you don’t know what VOC is and you have not heard that radio ad about that paint, here is an exerpt from Wikipedia:

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary, room-temperature conditions. Their high vapor pressure results from a low boiling point, which causes large numbers of molecules to evaporate or sublimate from the liquid or solid form of the compound and enter the surrounding air. An example is formaldehyde, with a boiling point of –19 °C (–2 °F), slowly exiting paint and getting into the air.

Many VOCs are dangerous to human health or cause harm to the environment.

Mitsubishi Factory 3 Tour, where the Mirage is made

Production capacity of the factory is quoted at 150,000 units per year and can be increased to a maximum of 200,000 units in the future. Currently, the factory produces only 130,000 Mirages a year, which equates to 26.8 units/hour.

Completed Mirages will make its way to countries in the ASEAN region, Europe as well as Japan. So if the Mirage ever makes its way here, we can be assured that the ones we’re getting are of the same built quality as the ones the Japanese will drive.

Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.

Certified Pre-Owned - 1 Year Warranty

10% discount when you renew your car insurance

Compare prices between different insurer providers and use the promo code 'PAULTAN10' when you make your payment to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services.

Car Insurance

Chris Ng

Chris Ng believes that all cars are made equal, and each one has its own unique story to tell. As such, the ex-advertising man is here doing what he truly loves, which is authoring the allegories and anecdotes of automobiles. Having served time in a motoring mag, he believes there's nothing more sublime than keeping the pedal floored and things burbling in top gear.

 

Comments

  • Wallstreet on May 29, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    Really impressive. Good for you Thailand. You deserved it.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • Gabla on May 29, 2012 at 7:39 pm

      The sad part is, this could have been in Malaysia if not for our NAP. What have we archieved with having our national car brand?

      Day by day, we are losing behind Thailand since global manufacturers are avoiding our automotive policy. Now Indonesia is also becoming the second automotive hub in Asean. Suzuki is now building an engine plant there.

      The global players are looking at Asean as their market with huge potential. We on the other hand are not able to sell our cars beyond our boundries. Can we really compete on a level ground?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • wlighter on May 29, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    If I recall correctly VOC is what gives new car the “new car smell”

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • here we go..NAP story after this

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • anti-proton on May 29, 2012 at 5:46 pm

    someone’s gonna start bashing proton even though the topic is not even about proton..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Sniper on May 29, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    and you just started it first dude.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • jamal on May 29, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    people in msia will buy myvi an viva anyway. unless thailand also built myvi la.. haha

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Same quality as Japan if this Mirage arrive in Msia? Betul kah? Or, will we be getting the rejected stuff :(

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Zanggief on Jun 02, 2012 at 1:59 pm

    Thanks to our very good NAP yet we claim we are the largest passenger car market in asean yet end up with all this plant,working opportunity happen at neighbour country…Malaysia memangnya boleh

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

Add a comment

required

required