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Super extraordinary screw salesman!
Don't forget to add in the, "Class" which money can't buy. Either you hve it or don't!!!
-
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A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand
- Thread starter Leongsam
- Start date
Don't forget to add in the, "Class" which money can't buy. Either you hve it or don't!!!
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2010
- Messages
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- Points
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Good point. I think I have class. So looking forward to my next life!
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2021
- Messages
- 1,622
- Points
- 113
Good point. I think I have class. So looking forward to my next life!
you already got class now
no need next life
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2021
- Messages
- 1,622
- Points
- 113
Super extraordinary screw salesman!
best wishes
like that
i have one less competitor
for karang guni
and i can collect your screws for recycle
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2008
- Messages
- 28,843
- Points
- 113
You must be a "special" kind of screw salesman to be on par with Froggy's status. Many of my kakis here in Thailand have never heard of local screw salesmen living the kind of life presented by Froggy...
Super extraordinary screw salesman!
You all seems to be making fun of my job, but I am really serious about screws. Please believe me I am really a screw salesman period.
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2021
- Messages
- 1,622
- Points
- 113
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2010
- Messages
- 37,156
- Points
- 113
I am not making fun, I am very serious. And if my next life doesn't turn out well even though I am a screw salesman in Thailand, then in my life after my next life, I will think of something else at somewhere else.
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2008
- Messages
- 20,261
- Points
- 113
Screw more 
Record low birth rate worries officials
PUBLISHED : 12 FEB 2021 AT 05:00
Bangkok Post
Thailand's lowest ever total fertility rate (TFR) has prompted the Public Health Ministry to come up with activities aimed at promoting dating among singles and fertility health among married couples who still don't have any children.
The TFR is the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime.
Thailand's birth rate last year dropped below 600,000 for the first time and took the country's TFR down to 1.51, which is "extremely low", said Dr Kamthorn Pruksananonda, chairman of a sub-committee on reproductive medicine at the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The World Health Organization and World Bank have said that if a country's TFR goes under 2.1, its proportion of elderly will surge and problems associated with migrant workers will rise.
These two problems are now clearly evident in Thailand, he said.
"When Japan's TFR hit 1.6, the Japanese leader at the time announced that a disaster was on the way if the country didn't do anything about it.
"Thailand's TFR used to be 5.1 and it has declined all the way down to 1.5. Worse still, the country has still not done anything about it and, without any intervention, the rate is forecast to fall further to 1.3 in less than a decade."
Aside from the alarmingly low birth rate, the number of health problems experienced by babies born to older-than-usual mothers, such as Down Syndrome, is also rising, said Prof Kamthorn.
In Japan and Europe, for instance, the average rate of women seeking medical assistance for infertility problems is 32, while in Thailand the average age of women when they first consult doctors about suspected infertility problems is 38, he said.
By that age it is rather late to start having babies and the risk of a baby being born with Down Syndrome is high, said Prof Kamthorn.
Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha said the government was now getting behind family planning promotions, the aim being to raise the country's birth rate voluntarily.
Families ready to have a baby will be provided with all the help they need in order to ensure the baby's good health from birth to adulthood, he said.
The ministry has now launched two activities aimed at promoting dating among the singles and fertility health among married couples who want to have a baby, he said.
More information about these activities is available at www.wiwahproject.com. The registration is open until March 31.
Record low birth rate worries officials
PUBLISHED : 12 FEB 2021 AT 05:00
Bangkok Post
Thailand's lowest ever total fertility rate (TFR) has prompted the Public Health Ministry to come up with activities aimed at promoting dating among singles and fertility health among married couples who still don't have any children.
The TFR is the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime.
Thailand's birth rate last year dropped below 600,000 for the first time and took the country's TFR down to 1.51, which is "extremely low", said Dr Kamthorn Pruksananonda, chairman of a sub-committee on reproductive medicine at the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The World Health Organization and World Bank have said that if a country's TFR goes under 2.1, its proportion of elderly will surge and problems associated with migrant workers will rise.
These two problems are now clearly evident in Thailand, he said.
"When Japan's TFR hit 1.6, the Japanese leader at the time announced that a disaster was on the way if the country didn't do anything about it.
"Thailand's TFR used to be 5.1 and it has declined all the way down to 1.5. Worse still, the country has still not done anything about it and, without any intervention, the rate is forecast to fall further to 1.3 in less than a decade."
Aside from the alarmingly low birth rate, the number of health problems experienced by babies born to older-than-usual mothers, such as Down Syndrome, is also rising, said Prof Kamthorn.
In Japan and Europe, for instance, the average rate of women seeking medical assistance for infertility problems is 32, while in Thailand the average age of women when they first consult doctors about suspected infertility problems is 38, he said.
By that age it is rather late to start having babies and the risk of a baby being born with Down Syndrome is high, said Prof Kamthorn.
Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha said the government was now getting behind family planning promotions, the aim being to raise the country's birth rate voluntarily.
Families ready to have a baby will be provided with all the help they need in order to ensure the baby's good health from birth to adulthood, he said.
The ministry has now launched two activities aimed at promoting dating among the singles and fertility health among married couples who want to have a baby, he said.
More information about these activities is available at www.wiwahproject.com. The registration is open until March 31.
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2008
- Messages
- 28,843
- Points
- 113
Happy Lunar New Year everybody. In my 15 years here, 16 now, I've never spend my Chinese New Year in Thailand, its always in Singapore spending time with the family. This New Year is so different due to the pandemic, got stuck here without the bog family so anyway got to make the best of it.
Decorating the home
Inside the home
Some goodies from Singapore
Local
A gift
After that its off to the reunion dinner at a restaurant with the missus. Starter - drunken chicken
Pickled cucumber
Stewed fish maw soup
Roast duck
Stir fry chive with pork
Steamed goby
Buddha Jumps over the Wall soup
After that its back to home to wait for midnight
Time to sleep
Another New Year coming to an end
Decorating the home
Inside the home
Some goodies from Singapore
Local
A gift
After that its off to the reunion dinner at a restaurant with the missus. Starter - drunken chicken
Pickled cucumber
Stewed fish maw soup
Roast duck
Stir fry chive with pork
Steamed goby
Buddha Jumps over the Wall soup
After that its back to home to wait for midnight
Time to sleep
Another New Year coming to an end
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2008
- Messages
- 20,261
- Points
- 113
Bangkok’s queen of street food Supinya ‘Jay Fai’ Junsuta
is named winner of the Icon Award for Asia
Mark Sansom - 04/02/2021
Ahead of the announcement of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021 on 25th March, the 50 Best organisation today reveals the first of its pre-announced awards. Voted for by experts from across Asia, Supinya ‘Jay Fai’ Junsuta, owner of the eponymous hawker shophouse in the Thai capital, is lauded with the prestigious Icon Award. 50 Best looks at the wok chef’s 40-year career and unassuming rise to the apex of her profession
Today will be a regular day for Supinya Junsuta, 76, chef-proprietor of Raan Jay Fai, a seven-table shophouse restaurant on Bangkok’s bustling Maha Chai Road. She will rise early, apply a vivid slick of her iconic red lipstick and head to the fish market to select her produce for the day. Before she arrives at her restaurant to begin preparations, an unrelenting line of customers will begin to build from sunrise to guarantee a seat at the table. The continuous stream of patrons will continue until early evening when Bangkok’s current restrictions say that Jay Fai must close. But as a rule, her restaurant will be sold-out by then, anyway.
It’s been a similar circadian rhythm for the past 40 years. Junsuta launched Jay Fai – meaning ‘Sister Mole’, her nickname, a reference to the birthmark on the right of her nose – in the early 1980s. She worked six days a week, personally wok-frying every dish that the restaurant serves, only recently allowing herself an extra day off, and one vacation a year. When she is not around to cook, the shophouse is closed.
Supinya 'Jay Fai' Junsuta, at the wok station she has operated for 40 years
Her unwavering dedication to finely tuned street food, devotion to her customers and insistence on using only the best-quality produce available in the Thai capital sees her receive the Icon Award by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. It is the first time the accolade has been given to a hawker cook and she joins a glittering line-up of previous winners, including acclaimed Japanese master chefs Seiji Yamamoto and Yoshihiro Murata. “I’m surprised and honoured at the same time,” Junsuta says, with typical modesty.
It’s not the first time Junsuta has been in the glare of the international spotlight. In 2018 Jay Fai was recognised with a star in the Michelin Guide, making hers the first Thai street food restaurant to receive the accolade. It brought with it the attention of the world’s food media and the accompanying caravan of global gastronomes. All made the pilgrimage to Bangkok to try her khai jiao poo (crab omelette), pad kee mao talay (drunken noodles with seafood) and her take on a dry tom yum, an innovative dish of her own design that takes the sour, sweet, fragrant and spicy notes of the iconic soup and reimagines the flavours to create a plate without broth that would sit happily on a fine dining restaurant menu.
Chilli chicken with Thai basil at Jay Fai
School of wok
Junsuta started work aged 12 as a seamstress, eschewing education to earn money for her family. After 10 years in the craft, a fire destroyed her equipment, forcing her to find other avenues of work. Cooking was in the family’s blood – her mother ran a stall hawking chicken noodles – but the young Junsuta was told she did not have the skill to make it as a chef; her mother criticised her technique and palate.
She viewed it as a challenge, dissecting dishes with scientific accuracy, looking at the composition of each ingredient and how it responded to heat, before coming up with her own twists on the recipes she had learnt at her mother’s apron. “I got into cooking through necessity, poverty and contempt,” explains Junsuta. She wanted to put right her mother’s opinion of her skills and soon found herself as the sole provider for her family before she reached 30.
The first iteration of her street food stall contained little more than one portable wok fire, a table for ingredient preparation and a pot where she would take customers’ money. She fast developed a reputation as serving some of the best pad Thai in the city. With a loyal customer base in place, Junsuta saw opportunity.
She took a gamble that would define her future. Junsuta invested one month's profit on premium ingredients: in this case, huge king prawns, that would form the basis of her pad Thai and in turn her strategy for the restaurant. Laughed off by her fellow street vendors as too expensive for city workers’ lunch, the dishes Junsuta created would sell for up to ten times the price of her neighbours’.
Luxury ingredients are a staple at Jay Fai on Maha Chai Road
As reputation spread about the woman serving humble dishes with luxury produce, the line to her stall grew longer. When the nearby gambling houses started making morning orders that would sell-out a large proportion of her stock on a daily basis, she knew she was onto something. She saved the money from two years’ street trading to buy the shophouse where the restaurant sits today, with just seven tables and the same regular guests who have frequented her restaurant for nearly half a century.
A reputation for excellence
To the dismay of Bangkok’s fine dining restaurants, Junsuta has access to the best produce in the city. The relationships she has forged with market traders over decades sees her get first choice of Thailand’s celebrated seafood. She drives a famously hard bargain, passing on the cost fairly to her guests. “Quality and fresh ingredients should be the foundation of the food you eat, even those you choose on a daily basis,” Junsuta says.
Although her restaurant has scores of dishes, it’s the unique crab omelette that people come from across the world to try. Priced at north of 1,500 baht ($45), it contains 1lb of fresh crab, bound in a Japanese-style tamagoyaki omelette. “I taught myself the process of making the folded omelette and it took a lot of time,” says Junsuta. “I pay very close attention to all my dishes, but I think this crab dish has become the signature because you can’t find it anywhere else. It is composed of the very best ingredients I can find and it has original flavours.”
The legendary khai jiao poo (crab omelette)
After almost half a century at the stove, Junsuta has no intention of hanging up her wok. “If you asked me 20 years ago, I would say my motivation was my family, but today I do it for the love of cooking as well. I am proud of my boldness and I have never regretted it,” she says. “The key to my success has been hard work, dedication and patience. You can’t give up, so neither can I.”
https://www.theworlds50best.com/stories/News/bangkoks-queen-of-street-food-icon.html
is named winner of the Icon Award for Asia
Mark Sansom - 04/02/2021
Ahead of the announcement of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021 on 25th March, the 50 Best organisation today reveals the first of its pre-announced awards. Voted for by experts from across Asia, Supinya ‘Jay Fai’ Junsuta, owner of the eponymous hawker shophouse in the Thai capital, is lauded with the prestigious Icon Award. 50 Best looks at the wok chef’s 40-year career and unassuming rise to the apex of her profession
Today will be a regular day for Supinya Junsuta, 76, chef-proprietor of Raan Jay Fai, a seven-table shophouse restaurant on Bangkok’s bustling Maha Chai Road. She will rise early, apply a vivid slick of her iconic red lipstick and head to the fish market to select her produce for the day. Before she arrives at her restaurant to begin preparations, an unrelenting line of customers will begin to build from sunrise to guarantee a seat at the table. The continuous stream of patrons will continue until early evening when Bangkok’s current restrictions say that Jay Fai must close. But as a rule, her restaurant will be sold-out by then, anyway.
It’s been a similar circadian rhythm for the past 40 years. Junsuta launched Jay Fai – meaning ‘Sister Mole’, her nickname, a reference to the birthmark on the right of her nose – in the early 1980s. She worked six days a week, personally wok-frying every dish that the restaurant serves, only recently allowing herself an extra day off, and one vacation a year. When she is not around to cook, the shophouse is closed.
Supinya 'Jay Fai' Junsuta, at the wok station she has operated for 40 years
Her unwavering dedication to finely tuned street food, devotion to her customers and insistence on using only the best-quality produce available in the Thai capital sees her receive the Icon Award by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. It is the first time the accolade has been given to a hawker cook and she joins a glittering line-up of previous winners, including acclaimed Japanese master chefs Seiji Yamamoto and Yoshihiro Murata. “I’m surprised and honoured at the same time,” Junsuta says, with typical modesty.
It’s not the first time Junsuta has been in the glare of the international spotlight. In 2018 Jay Fai was recognised with a star in the Michelin Guide, making hers the first Thai street food restaurant to receive the accolade. It brought with it the attention of the world’s food media and the accompanying caravan of global gastronomes. All made the pilgrimage to Bangkok to try her khai jiao poo (crab omelette), pad kee mao talay (drunken noodles with seafood) and her take on a dry tom yum, an innovative dish of her own design that takes the sour, sweet, fragrant and spicy notes of the iconic soup and reimagines the flavours to create a plate without broth that would sit happily on a fine dining restaurant menu.
Chilli chicken with Thai basil at Jay Fai
School of wok
Junsuta started work aged 12 as a seamstress, eschewing education to earn money for her family. After 10 years in the craft, a fire destroyed her equipment, forcing her to find other avenues of work. Cooking was in the family’s blood – her mother ran a stall hawking chicken noodles – but the young Junsuta was told she did not have the skill to make it as a chef; her mother criticised her technique and palate.
She viewed it as a challenge, dissecting dishes with scientific accuracy, looking at the composition of each ingredient and how it responded to heat, before coming up with her own twists on the recipes she had learnt at her mother’s apron. “I got into cooking through necessity, poverty and contempt,” explains Junsuta. She wanted to put right her mother’s opinion of her skills and soon found herself as the sole provider for her family before she reached 30.
The first iteration of her street food stall contained little more than one portable wok fire, a table for ingredient preparation and a pot where she would take customers’ money. She fast developed a reputation as serving some of the best pad Thai in the city. With a loyal customer base in place, Junsuta saw opportunity.
She took a gamble that would define her future. Junsuta invested one month's profit on premium ingredients: in this case, huge king prawns, that would form the basis of her pad Thai and in turn her strategy for the restaurant. Laughed off by her fellow street vendors as too expensive for city workers’ lunch, the dishes Junsuta created would sell for up to ten times the price of her neighbours’.
Luxury ingredients are a staple at Jay Fai on Maha Chai Road
As reputation spread about the woman serving humble dishes with luxury produce, the line to her stall grew longer. When the nearby gambling houses started making morning orders that would sell-out a large proportion of her stock on a daily basis, she knew she was onto something. She saved the money from two years’ street trading to buy the shophouse where the restaurant sits today, with just seven tables and the same regular guests who have frequented her restaurant for nearly half a century.
A reputation for excellence
To the dismay of Bangkok’s fine dining restaurants, Junsuta has access to the best produce in the city. The relationships she has forged with market traders over decades sees her get first choice of Thailand’s celebrated seafood. She drives a famously hard bargain, passing on the cost fairly to her guests. “Quality and fresh ingredients should be the foundation of the food you eat, even those you choose on a daily basis,” Junsuta says.
Although her restaurant has scores of dishes, it’s the unique crab omelette that people come from across the world to try. Priced at north of 1,500 baht ($45), it contains 1lb of fresh crab, bound in a Japanese-style tamagoyaki omelette. “I taught myself the process of making the folded omelette and it took a lot of time,” says Junsuta. “I pay very close attention to all my dishes, but I think this crab dish has become the signature because you can’t find it anywhere else. It is composed of the very best ingredients I can find and it has original flavours.”
The legendary khai jiao poo (crab omelette)
After almost half a century at the stove, Junsuta has no intention of hanging up her wok. “If you asked me 20 years ago, I would say my motivation was my family, but today I do it for the love of cooking as well. I am proud of my boldness and I have never regretted it,” she says. “The key to my success has been hard work, dedication and patience. You can’t give up, so neither can I.”
https://www.theworlds50best.com/stories/News/bangkoks-queen-of-street-food-icon.html
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2008
- Messages
- 28,843
- Points
- 113
Hello [froggy],
Happy Lunar Chinese New Year.
Gong Xi Fa Cai.
Jokes aside, simply looking at your residence and better than commercial kitchen, as well as your meals outside of your home, I believe that you are either a very successful screw salesman or a very successful entrepreneur, or both.
Wish you continuing good health, success and satisfaction from your business and endeavors.
Happy Lunar Chinese New Year.
Gong Xi Fa Cai.
Jokes aside, simply looking at your residence and better than commercial kitchen, as well as your meals outside of your home, I believe that you are either a very successful screw salesman or a very successful entrepreneur, or both.
Wish you continuing good health, success and satisfaction from your business and endeavors.
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2008
- Messages
- 28,843
- Points
- 113
I wish you and your family much Blessings, Peace and Love in this Ox year and great success in your practice.
Covid year was a challenging year for us screw salesmen when demand was lowered and expectations too as users want to save money by using cheaper products. Despite these challenges, through sheer hard work and innovative new products and marketing it became a record year for us all so my Thai boss was very happy with me. Hope will continue this bull run .
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2008
- Messages
- 28,843
- Points
- 113
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Tha...10&pub_date=20210215150000&seq_num=6&si=44594
Thailand GDP shrinks at fastest pace in over 2 decades
Economy contracts 6.1% in 2020 due to lack of tourists and exports
People shop for street food in Chinatown in Bangkok amid the pandemic on Jan. 6. © Reuters
MASAYUKI YUDA, Nikkei staff writerFebruary 15, 2021 11:48 JST
BANGKOK -- Thailand's economy contracted at its fastest pace in more than two decades, reflecting a lack of tourists and exports due to COVID-19, according to data released on Monday by the government's economic planning agency.
Real gross domestic product shrank 6.1% in 2020 compared with the previous year, according to the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council.
This was the third year that Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has contracted in recent times. The economy shrank 0.7% in 2009 due to the global financial crisis and 7.6% in 1998 amid the Asian financial crisis.
The kingdom reported a 4.2% GDP decline for the quarter ending December compared with the same period in 2019. On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter basis, the economy grew by 1.3% for the three months, following 6.5% growth for the quarter ending September.
A technical recovery is defined as two consecutive quarters of seasonally adjusted economic growth.
Exports accounted for a large portion of the economic damage. Service exports, which include spending by nonresidents such as tourists, slumped 60.0% in 2020 compared to 2019. Thailand's borders remain shut to most tourists. Exports of goods were also weak, recording a 5.8% drop due to slow global demand.
Private consumption expenditures fell 1.0% on the year in 2020. Business lockdowns imposed by local governments to control the first wave of the virus also weighed on results. The central government tried to support consumption by introducing travel subsidies and cash giveaways, but domestic demand was not strong enough to push the economy out of negative territory.
Since mid-December, Thailand has seen coronavirus cases surge, forcing the reimposition of business lockdowns in certain provinces. With some lockdowns still in place, government organizations and private research companies are revising down their economic projections for 2021.
The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council was no exception. It announced on Monday that it had revised down its forecast to 2.5-3.5% growth. In November 2020, the agency saw the Thai economy to grow in 2021 at between 3.5% and 4.5%.
Thailand GDP shrinks at fastest pace in over 2 decades
Economy contracts 6.1% in 2020 due to lack of tourists and exports
People shop for street food in Chinatown in Bangkok amid the pandemic on Jan. 6. © Reuters
MASAYUKI YUDA, Nikkei staff writerFebruary 15, 2021 11:48 JST
BANGKOK -- Thailand's economy contracted at its fastest pace in more than two decades, reflecting a lack of tourists and exports due to COVID-19, according to data released on Monday by the government's economic planning agency.
Real gross domestic product shrank 6.1% in 2020 compared with the previous year, according to the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council.
This was the third year that Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has contracted in recent times. The economy shrank 0.7% in 2009 due to the global financial crisis and 7.6% in 1998 amid the Asian financial crisis.
The kingdom reported a 4.2% GDP decline for the quarter ending December compared with the same period in 2019. On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter basis, the economy grew by 1.3% for the three months, following 6.5% growth for the quarter ending September.
A technical recovery is defined as two consecutive quarters of seasonally adjusted economic growth.
Exports accounted for a large portion of the economic damage. Service exports, which include spending by nonresidents such as tourists, slumped 60.0% in 2020 compared to 2019. Thailand's borders remain shut to most tourists. Exports of goods were also weak, recording a 5.8% drop due to slow global demand.
Private consumption expenditures fell 1.0% on the year in 2020. Business lockdowns imposed by local governments to control the first wave of the virus also weighed on results. The central government tried to support consumption by introducing travel subsidies and cash giveaways, but domestic demand was not strong enough to push the economy out of negative territory.
Since mid-December, Thailand has seen coronavirus cases surge, forcing the reimposition of business lockdowns in certain provinces. With some lockdowns still in place, government organizations and private research companies are revising down their economic projections for 2021.
The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council was no exception. It announced on Monday that it had revised down its forecast to 2.5-3.5% growth. In November 2020, the agency saw the Thai economy to grow in 2021 at between 3.5% and 4.5%.
Thank you, sir.
You are a superb salesman and entrepreneur.
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2008
- Messages
- 28,843
- Points
- 113
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Au...1&pub_date=20210217190000&seq_num=16&si=44594
China's Great Wall to kick-start Thai sales with focus on EVs
Automaker joins SAIC to challenge Japanese brands that dominate ASEAN market
An Ora Good Cat compact car is displayed at an auto show in Beijing. The model will be the first fully electric vehicle that Great Wall Motor will launch in Thailand. © Reuters
APORNRATH PHOONPHONGPHIPHAT, Nikkei staff writerFebruary 17, 2021 17:40 JST
BANGKOK -- Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor will make an official entry into Thailand, Southeast Asia's largest car market, this year with a focus on electrified cars to break the stranglehold of Japanese brands, which together hold nearly 90% of the market share.
Executives of the company met Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Monday and told him that Thailand will be an important production base and export hub for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region, local media reported.
Great Wall has been preparing to enter the Thai market after purchasing a car manufacturing plant in Rayong Province, southeast of Bangkok, from General Motors, which decided in February 2020 to scale back its operations in the Asia-Pacific region. The deal was completed in September, marking the end of GM's presence in the kingdom.
This latest market entry follows SAIC Motor's launch of MG brand cars in Thailand several years ago through a joint venture with the leading Thai conglomerate, Charoen Pokphand Group. This Sino-Thai auto alliance will also be a competitor with Great Wall.
Great Wall will make efforts to offer best-in-class products and services to Thai people and heighten market standards to increase the potential of the Thai automotive industry, Narong Sritalayon, managing director of Great Wall Motor Thailand, said during a virtual news conference earlier this month.
At a virtual news conference, Great Wall Motor announced that it will launch four models in Thailand this year, including the Haval H6 sport utility vehicle. (Photo courtesy of the company)
Based in Hebei Province, Great Wall is listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges, with sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks as its main products. Its annual sales volume hit an all-time high of 1.11 million units in 2020.
The company has announced that it will launch four models this year in Thailand, including the Haval H6 sport utility vehicle and the Ora Good Cat compact electric car. The release dates and prices have not yet been disclosed.
The Haval H6 is a successful SUV that has sold more than 6 million units in China and other countries, according to the company.
Ora Good Cat will be the first fully electric vehicle that Great Wall will launch in Thailand. "It will set a new standard as a high-quality, technology-packed car with appealing retro futurism design for Thai people," the automaker said in a statement.
In the past few years, consumer interest in electrified vehicles has been growing in Thailand, and hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles are gradually taking root.
Great Wall's strategy is to differentiate itself from existing manufacturers by focusing more on electrified vehicles. It plans to launch a total of nine models in three years. Its lineup "will breathe new life into Thailand's automobile scene with technology and performance that redefine driving enjoyment and value for money towards the future," the automaker said.
That meshes with the Thai government's policy of pushing Thailand toward becoming the EV hub of ASEAN by 2030. The country aims to have EVs make up 30% of the 2.5 million units expected to be produced in 2030.
Standing in Great Wall's way are the Japanese brands, led by Toyota Motor, that have built up a very strong foothold in many ASEAN countries. In the Thai market, which shrank by 21% to about 790,000 units in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, non-Japanese cars accounted for only 12% of the total.
The SAIC-CP alliance sold about 28,000 MG brand vehicles in 2020, 6.8% more than the previous year, a notable performance amid a difficult sales environment.
Kasikorn Bank's research arm, Kasikorn Research Center, has forecast that the Thai auto market will revive only gradually, expecting sales to grow by 7-11% to between 825,000 and 855,000 units in 2021. Great Wall's entry will create new competition in a market that is still in the midst of recovery.
China's Great Wall to kick-start Thai sales with focus on EVs
Automaker joins SAIC to challenge Japanese brands that dominate ASEAN market
An Ora Good Cat compact car is displayed at an auto show in Beijing. The model will be the first fully electric vehicle that Great Wall Motor will launch in Thailand. © Reuters
APORNRATH PHOONPHONGPHIPHAT, Nikkei staff writerFebruary 17, 2021 17:40 JST
BANGKOK -- Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor will make an official entry into Thailand, Southeast Asia's largest car market, this year with a focus on electrified cars to break the stranglehold of Japanese brands, which together hold nearly 90% of the market share.
Executives of the company met Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Monday and told him that Thailand will be an important production base and export hub for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region, local media reported.
Great Wall has been preparing to enter the Thai market after purchasing a car manufacturing plant in Rayong Province, southeast of Bangkok, from General Motors, which decided in February 2020 to scale back its operations in the Asia-Pacific region. The deal was completed in September, marking the end of GM's presence in the kingdom.
This latest market entry follows SAIC Motor's launch of MG brand cars in Thailand several years ago through a joint venture with the leading Thai conglomerate, Charoen Pokphand Group. This Sino-Thai auto alliance will also be a competitor with Great Wall.
Great Wall will make efforts to offer best-in-class products and services to Thai people and heighten market standards to increase the potential of the Thai automotive industry, Narong Sritalayon, managing director of Great Wall Motor Thailand, said during a virtual news conference earlier this month.
At a virtual news conference, Great Wall Motor announced that it will launch four models in Thailand this year, including the Haval H6 sport utility vehicle. (Photo courtesy of the company)
Based in Hebei Province, Great Wall is listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges, with sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks as its main products. Its annual sales volume hit an all-time high of 1.11 million units in 2020.
The company has announced that it will launch four models this year in Thailand, including the Haval H6 sport utility vehicle and the Ora Good Cat compact electric car. The release dates and prices have not yet been disclosed.
The Haval H6 is a successful SUV that has sold more than 6 million units in China and other countries, according to the company.
Ora Good Cat will be the first fully electric vehicle that Great Wall will launch in Thailand. "It will set a new standard as a high-quality, technology-packed car with appealing retro futurism design for Thai people," the automaker said in a statement.
In the past few years, consumer interest in electrified vehicles has been growing in Thailand, and hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles are gradually taking root.
Great Wall's strategy is to differentiate itself from existing manufacturers by focusing more on electrified vehicles. It plans to launch a total of nine models in three years. Its lineup "will breathe new life into Thailand's automobile scene with technology and performance that redefine driving enjoyment and value for money towards the future," the automaker said.
That meshes with the Thai government's policy of pushing Thailand toward becoming the EV hub of ASEAN by 2030. The country aims to have EVs make up 30% of the 2.5 million units expected to be produced in 2030.
Standing in Great Wall's way are the Japanese brands, led by Toyota Motor, that have built up a very strong foothold in many ASEAN countries. In the Thai market, which shrank by 21% to about 790,000 units in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, non-Japanese cars accounted for only 12% of the total.
The SAIC-CP alliance sold about 28,000 MG brand vehicles in 2020, 6.8% more than the previous year, a notable performance amid a difficult sales environment.
Kasikorn Bank's research arm, Kasikorn Research Center, has forecast that the Thai auto market will revive only gradually, expecting sales to grow by 7-11% to between 825,000 and 855,000 units in 2021. Great Wall's entry will create new competition in a market that is still in the midst of recovery.
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