General Motors opens new diesel engine plant in Thailand

General Motors opens new diesel engine plant in Thailand

General Motors has officially opened a new diesel plant in Rayong, Thailand. The new plant which is worth $200 million and is the company’s first diesel factory in region will be the first in the world to produce the new line of Duramax 4-pot oil burners that will be first installed in the Colorado pickup.

These Duramax engines are made up by a 2.5 litre as well as a 2.8 litre variant featuring overhead cams, force-induction and aluminum cylinder heads. General Motors confirmed that the plant is able to churn out 120,000 engines per year and these engines will used for vehicles manufactured in the country and in other markets.

General Motors opens new diesel engine plant in Thailand

The 54,275 square meter plant will have up to 500 employees by the end of the year and houses various state-of-the-art computers and laser-guided equipments. It is also dust-free and features an in-house climate control system to ensure the best possible environment for engine production. Furthermore, the plant uses a lighting system that consumes 40% less energy compared to conventional systems.

General Motors also revealed that it is expected to source Thai-built components that is worth $94 million for the engine production by 2012. The opening of the new plant comes after the company announced plans to invest up to $150 million in the revival of its Bekasi manufacturing facility in Indonesia which will output a new line of people movers for other Southeast Asian markets.

Since the Chevrolet Colorado was brought up in this article, it is worth to point out that the pickup is expected to make its local debut sometime in December 2011 following a recent announcement by Naza Quest CEO Datuk Maruan Mohd Said.

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Harvinder Sidhu

Harvinder Singh Sidhu thinks there's nothing better than Formula 1, not even sliced bread. Having written about cars since 2006, he plunged head first into the industry out of a passion for all things four-wheeled and everything in between. The F1 enthusiast has been following the sport since 1999 and has been keeping up with it since. In between races he keeps himself busy as the host of the Driven motoring show and as our version of the Joker.

 

Comments

  • justin bubur on Sep 11, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    nice chick!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • MoFaz on Sep 12, 2011 at 10:42 am

      the hot chick is to keep people motivated while working like robot in factory :)

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Paul Tan for Prime Minister on Sep 11, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    USD 200 million + 94 million + 150 million =

    RM 1.33 BILLION LOST for Malaysia !!!

    This is only talking about General Motor investment ! Who is going to answer to the rakyat ?

    Paul Tan for Prime Minister

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • RedBeanBun on Sep 11, 2011 at 11:08 pm

      becos GM do not want to
      1) give any share to those sitting on board director doing nothing
      2) use their appointed part supplier

      simple as that.

      The G making jobs for others? gimme a break. They only give foreign investment as long as they gota share the pie. Through company tax only? its not to their own pocket.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • MoFaz on Sep 12, 2011 at 10:50 am

        population in thai is more than double of malaysia’s. more workforce available there but Malaysia have to import workers from bangladesh and nepal to work in our factories. we now have more than 2mil foreign workers because malaysians doesn’t want low-paying jobs… and salary in Honda factory in thai is much cheaper than honda in china. RM700 only. would you work in factory with such salary???

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    • nationalist on Sep 12, 2011 at 2:51 pm

      Another MYR 1 billion here. Toyota to build a USD 388 million plant in Indonesia:
      http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/9/9/business/20110909091628&sec=business

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  • Congratulations to Thailand…u out shine us again!

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    • Cowabunga! on Sep 11, 2011 at 7:10 pm

      don’t need a congratulation in order there….
      it’s pretty simple when you have a oblivious gov and multitude of clowns.
      as years go…the shit gets smellier and rotten….and they will go on pretending doing so.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Hameed Koyakuti on Sep 12, 2011 at 9:04 am

      Have u ever wonder why the auotmakers still prefers Rayong over Malaysia ???

      Thailand
      – G – unstable
      – workforce – cannot speak english
      – brand – all foreign brand
      – type – assembly not manufacturing
      – mode – no design input, only assembly

      basically the automakers want the Thais to stay at current environment…..no technology transfer, no say in mgmt, no strong union, no point FDI if the LOCAL will still be the KULI BATAKS…..???

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      • anonymous on Sep 12, 2011 at 7:40 pm

        Yet despite of all these said disadvantages, brand after brand still choose Thailand.

        What does this tell you?

        Malaysia is clever, and all these manufacturers and Thailand are stupid?

        I don’t want to knock P1 and P2 here, these two manufacturers have to work under severe limitations despite their market protection, but what ‘technology transfer’ have these they achieved? How much of their cars are native developed technology and how much is sourced overseas?

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  • lonelyobserve on Sep 11, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    Are these Duramax diesel engines newly developed by GM? I searched from Internet and only found big displacement engines using Duramax naming.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • ramli kareem on Sep 11, 2011 at 5:38 pm

    MITI we have a problem !!
    Why are the foreign investments avoiding Msia?
    We claim to have the best work force and facilities
    and yet Tanjong Malim is still operation below capacity.
    Sigh !!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • RedBeanBun on Sep 11, 2011 at 11:10 pm

      as long as no money/share to those incharge pocket (u know who is behind miti), like owner some share, or using apponited lousy part supplier, you think they care about creating job for the locals? thats fantasy world. Not reality.

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    • MCdog on Sep 12, 2011 at 10:29 am

      Don’t blame MITI lar, they just follow what their masters say.

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  • Are you sure it’ll be producing a 2.5L engine, not a 2.2L? AFAIK, there’s no GM product on the horizon that will feature a 2.5L engine…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Jason on Sep 11, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    For a tree we lost the jungle! Long life Proton! Long life Dr M!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Unforgiven on Sep 11, 2011 at 10:22 pm

      Good one..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • Payne on Oct 03, 2011 at 10:26 pm

        haha… really gud one. u should say, for a rm1 banknote, we lost all thousand hundred of rm100 bank note. ngam la sama pepatah melayu, “kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga”. this is the mighty work of mamaktir paria.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • RedBeanBun on Sep 11, 2011 at 11:11 pm

      you gota see who owns the tree, and who lost the jungle. Its not the same group of people. Rakyat lost the jungle, but you-know-who owns the tree. So still no fruits to common people like us..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Xefron on Sep 11, 2011 at 6:17 pm

    thumbs up if u spot a hot chic there :P

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • lchan on Sep 11, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    Hello Duramax Chic

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Kondohon on Sep 11, 2011 at 7:34 pm

    That chick is hot to be supervisor

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    • squawk on Sep 11, 2011 at 8:48 pm

      She could also be smarter than most of us combined. :-(

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • Hameed Koyakuti on Sep 12, 2011 at 9:10 am

        Daytime – Supervisor
        Nightime – Pole Dancer cum Chicken in Aquarium

        or esle, masat masat, thai masat, body masat, kucing masat, cheap cheap 10 baht one hour onli…..

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • thailand getting the good stuff again
    and we are still clinging to the must-not-be-named automaker sucking the people’s hard earned money dry

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Pinnacle on Sep 11, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    Thank you Proton!!! Malaysia Boleh!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • A normal Malaysian struggling to survive on Sep 11, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    GM spends millions into Thailand…. Malaysians spending millions buying GM cars….. Thanks to the government for protecting the local car companies, which the entire supply and distribution chain is linked to people in the government. Govt is screwing the rakyat by selling more expensive + inferior local cars to the Malaysians and selling the same car with EXPORT specs at a cheaper price to other countries….

    Press “LIKE” if you feel that we are screwed by the government
    Press “DISLIKE” if you are a part of the cronies

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • squawk on Sep 12, 2011 at 10:49 am

      There are hardly a handful of Chevys on our roads. So our loss isn’t so great lah. [:D]

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  • KLbloke on Sep 11, 2011 at 9:44 pm

    Malaysian government only have themselves to blame for losing out such a huge investment – and I wonder why they did not try to bring this kind of investment in instead of the controversial Lynas rare earth project…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • armang on Sep 11, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    gov only know to increase the docket price, thus the bigger tax can be imposed. this more important as they generated money to government than benefited rakyat. pity malaysian

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • barry on Sep 11, 2011 at 11:26 pm

    As a friend put it, Mahathir is the father of the Thai auto industry.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • asgard on Sep 11, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    if u look at the big picture female became supervisor while guy do the dirty work, better qualification for the female than male

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  • Michael on Sep 11, 2011 at 11:54 pm

    They have this, and all we got is a rare-earth refinery!

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  • azrai on Sep 12, 2011 at 7:24 am

    The fruitful result of NAP and National cars.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • durararararara on Sep 12, 2011 at 9:42 am

    if its thailand, never be so sure if its a ‘real’ chick

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • tan ah kow on Sep 12, 2011 at 10:43 am

    You know why GM chooses Thailand over Malaysia.

    1] Our new automotive policy has 100 pages of rules, regulations and conditions,

    2] Getting approval for this and that from all the big and small Napoleons.

    3] Changing rules all the time.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Expatriate VN on Sep 12, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    GM and other world players investment in Thailand is best sum up as they get green mountain forest, while Bodohland get jaguh kampong P1 deadwood stump at barren soil sucking rakyat dry.

    No thanks to P1, P2, TDM, cronies, NAP, AP Kings craptriotic scam in enriching themselve at the expense of rakyat.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • autojohndoe on Sep 12, 2011 at 5:59 pm

    if Thai is better, why do some ppl here dont want to apply job there…

    i think you may enjoy what you dream of…

    no point you make noise here while stay in the system that you hate…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • you are thinking the wrong thing la johnny boy…

      if the G will bring more investments into malaysia. we will have more work. for everyone. period.

      but i’m afriad bolehland is too far behind already… we can catch up still hopefully.. but remember if our people jagah kampung mentality still remains, die la..

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  • Well, this is another blow to the Umnoputra selfishness. Scam the rakyat by plumping the pathetic Proton, Lotus, Mas, and countless other under-performing GLCs. Oh, wait…or maybe its a daylight robbery. Hope the rakyat realize that for every Proton sold, a hefty (and very unfair) proportion goes to some God forsaken’s pockets.

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  • that day i drove by a proton banner in my proton savvy… the banner said celebrating 25yrs of proton or something like that…. then i looked at my proton savvy and all the other protons on the road… :(

    damm sad la wei…. 25 YEARS!!

    thailand is becoming the detroit of the east.. and we continue to still protect proton.

    i bought proton because i still can’t afford other cars… somehow the taxes are made up such a way that the majority of working class people like me can only afford protons… even after some time working and saving my ass off… my budget range is still around 60-70… yeah.. got more choice in the second hand market you say.. pls.. why cant i have a new car at 20-30k range.. safe, reliable, affordable… no need the best no need the latest… just reasonable…

    i drive a proton… but i hate you proton…. because of you. everybody suffers. yes the world will be a better place without you.

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  • hey, that chic doesn’t wear safety helmet! Chic first safety after..haha

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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