Bangkok--Sep 23--MMC SITTIPOL
H.E. Korn Dabbaransi, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Industry, presided over the ceremony of "The 100,000 th Exported Units : Worldwide Success" as the number of Mitsubishi vehicle exported to 139 countries around the world reached 100,000 units or more than 23,000 Million baht in value, on Monday, September 22, 1997, at Laem Chabang Port, Cholburi Province.
MMC Sittipol, The Pioneer of Thailand's Automobile Export
Mr. Takashi Murasawa, President & Chief Executive Officer, explains about the history of exporting Thai-assembled Mitsubishi vehicles as the company was established in 1961, the market size was small and the company assembled the car just to serve domestic market only.
"Until 1988, the first time of Thailand's history, MMC Sittipol started exporting Thai-assembled "Mitsubishi Lancer Champ" to Canada. That was the significant milestone of Thai automobile industry since it was the first time Thai-made automobile got a warm welcome from the world.
In 1989, the company began to ship "Mitsubishi Lancer Champ" to Indochina and Cyprus, also with the CKD (Complete Knock Down) parts of Mitsubishi L200 pick-up truck to Portugal. Later, in 1990, shortly after the opening of The Truck Assembly. Plant, MMC Sittipol wrote the new history record again. It exported the 10-wheel truck "Mitsubishi Fuso" to Indonesia and Mitsubishi Lancer Champ to lsrael. The company also began to send "Mitsubishi L200 Cyclone" pick-up truck to Turkey and Europe.
Global Production Center for L200 Strada.
In 1995, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Japan) remodeled the Pick-up Mitsubishi L200 and appointed MMC Sittipol to be the sole manufacturer for worldwide export. It would produce the vehicles in more than 100 different specifications including CBU (Complete Built Up), CKD (Complete Knock Down), and Genuine Parts kit, and export to 139 countries around the world.
To keep pace with the enormous number of order, MMC Sittipol invest more than 50 billion baht for the plant construction and working capital of its' 4 th. assemble factory in Laem Chabang Industrial Estate, Cholburi. The new factory was build to be the assembly plant of Mitsubishi L200 Strada with the annual capacity of 200,000 units for giobal export.
Mitsubishi Pick-up from Thailand are cruising around the world
After the opening of the 4 th. assembly plant in 1996, the company started to export the new mitsubishi L200 Strada to Australia, European countries, Latin America and Africa. Moreover, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Japan) aiso asked MMC Sittipol to produce L200 Strada Sporty 4WD for Japan market itself. It is not overstate to say that MMC Sittipol Co.,Ltd. has successfully developed itself to be one of the most complete automobile production base in the world.
In 1996, the company exported 10,670 units of the new Mitsubishi L200 Strada which worth more than 3,500 miliion baht. In 1997, the export volume of Strada from January until the beginning of August is 22,902 units or more than 7,830 Million baht in value.
MMC Sittipol, the first and the leading exporter of Thailand's automobile industry.
During its' 10 years of export, 1988-1997, MMC Sittipol has exported more than 70 models of vehicle, including Mitsubishi Lancer Champ, Mitsubishi Fuso, MItsubishi L200 Cyclone and the new Mitsubishi L200 Strada to every continent around the world. This can prove that MMC Sittipol is the real successor in automobile export:
The top five countries of MMC Sittipol's highest exported volume are Australia, Germany, Portugal, ltaly and Belgium.
The top 3 models of exported are
1. Mitsubishi Lancer, 39,158 units
2. The new Mitsubishi L200 Strada, 33,572 units
3. Mitsubishi L200 Cyclone, 22,621 units
Reaching the 100,000 th. export unit
Dr. Vachara Phanchet, Director & Executive Vice President, mentioned about the leadership of Thailand automobile exporter, "We are very successful in assembling vehicles for export. The forecast export volume in this year is over 40,000 units or more than 11,000 Million baht in value."
In this September only, MMC Sittipol exports its "Mitsubishi L200 Strada" to more than 14 countries in many regions, for instance, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary. The export volume for this month is 4,250 units or 1,754 million baht.
About the reason of this celebration, Dr. Vachara said, "the reaching of 100,000 units in export is the significant milestone for us. lt proves that Thai made Mitsubishi automobiles are well accepted around the world, we are the real leader in Thailand's automobile exporter."
"We also proud of ourselves as we can support the country in creating the job and income for Thai people, easing the unemployment problem and bringing in foreign currency for alleviating the economic crisis." Dr. Vachara expressed. End.