Thailand - Scania has opened a new assembly facility for truck cabs, truck chassis and bus chassis in the Bangkok Free Trade Zone, Thailand. The Swedish OEM says that the move is an important part of its plan to strengthen its presence in the region.

“With this new industrial establishment and with local suppliers, we can now build Scania trucks and buses according to global specifications, with Thai origin,” commented Gustaf Sundell, managing director for Scania Group Thailand. “It gives us completely new prerequisites for our growth in the ASEAN Free Trade Area. By increasing our local presence, we are now able to quickly respond to customers’ demands, and make sure that we provide the best transport solution for each customer.”

Costing 800m Thai Baht (US$25.54m) and covering 33,900sq.m, the plant marks the biggest investment in production that Scania has made outside Europe and Latin America. According to the company, it is a ‘fully cross-functional set-up’ and will also house employees from Scania’s Production and Logistics, R&D, Purchasing as well as Sales and Marketing organisations.

In addition to the new facility, Scania has established a regional headquarters in Thailand. The idea is to support distributors across Asia and Oceania in developing business in their markets.