MINI to start assembling in Thailand, Countryman first

mini countryman ckd 03.jpg wm

Following the recent move to locally assemble the Mini Countryman in Malaysia, the BMW-owned brand has started CKD operations in Thailand, with first units hitting showrooms this month. Like here, the first Mini chosen to be locally assembled in the Land of Smiles is the five-door Countryman variant, Bangkok Post reports. Knocked down packs will come from Graz, Austria.

The model choice was an easy one to make – last year, the company sold 500 Minis in Thailand, half of which was the Countryman. Three variants will roll out of BMW’s flexible assembly facility in Rayong, the 122 hp/160 Nm petrol Cooper, the 112 hp/270 Nm diesel Cooper D and the more powerful 143 hp/305 Nm Cooper SD. All will come with six-speed autos, but only the Cooper SD will get ALL4 all-wheel drive.

Official pricing is not out yet, but the daily speculates that the Thai-assembled Countryman range will start from below two million baht (RM207k). As a CBU import, the Countryman is priced between 2.5 and 3.2 million baht (RM258k to RM331k) in Thailand.

The CKD Countryman was launched in Malaysia in June. We get the Cooper and Cooper S ALL4, priced at RM218,888 and RM258,888 respectively. When it was launched here in March 2011, the Cooper was priced at RM248,888 and the Cooper S RM285,888. Full story here, review of the C’man here.

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • Petrolhead on Aug 02, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    Sigh.. why are we losing all the good stuff to the Thais

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 26 Thumb down 0
    • Bolehland on Aug 02, 2013 at 6:39 pm

      u oredy got perodua plant in rawang..priced cheaper,but specs down a bit laa..haha..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 11
    • Because we have a brilliant NAP. Real culprit is mismanagement by an incompetent Government where it claims it has majority vote. So majority is ok to this trend and we are the odd one that find this a problem. You and I should accept this fact and move on.

      Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 122 Thumb down 10
  • along on Aug 02, 2013 at 8:45 pm

    This is nothing,

    We have NAP… Nobody can challenge our NAP…

    NAP.. NAp.. Nap.. nap.. ZZZ.. ZZz.. Zzz.. zzz..

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 84 Thumb down 2
  • bagero on Aug 03, 2013 at 3:21 am

    some ppl are stupid enuff cant see that Mini here in Malaysia is cheaper than Thai..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 9
    • bodoro on Aug 03, 2013 at 11:38 am

      Yeah compare Baht 2,000,000 vs RM 220,000. Only dumb people like you will compare that way.

      Our Countryman CKD is RM219k, Thai CKD is about RM207k.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 1
      • Of coz thai will be cheaper since bmw-mini avoid 80% import tax by thai gov…against bolehland 30% import tax…but thai has cheaper excise tax if not mistaken bet 20-50% n boleh bet 65-105%(efective rate 30-60%)

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Otto Au on Aug 05, 2013 at 7:27 am

    BAR FINE?

    :-)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Car man on Aug 10, 2013 at 10:32 am

    Fantastic to see Our neighbours are getting more prosperous and They still come to rip our wealth…. So mana foreigners nowadays..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Guys, i am not a supporter of current government policies, but i think mini has already been assemblying mini’s in Malaysia …… Read the first line of the article again.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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