It may have taken a year to make it happen, but the locally-built Toyota Camry Hybrid is finally ready to go on sale in Thailand. This new version of the Camry Hybrid is the first of its kind not assembled in Japan and features unique new front and rear fascias that are derived from the Australian Aurion with a grille that's vaguely reminiscent of the three-bar chrome schnoz used by Ford in America.

Although final pricing has not yet been announced, Toyota expects to sell the new Camry Hybrid in Thailand with just a small premium over the standard model thanks to a reduced 10 percent excise tax on locally-built hybrid vehicles. Thanks to this favorable pricing situation, Toyota expects the Hybrid to make up 60-70 percent of all Camry sales in the region. Soon, the Japanese automaker will begin exporting the Thai-built Camry Hybrid to other countries in Southeast Asia.


[Source: Paul Tan]

Representatives from one of the GM-backed cellulosic ethanol concerns, Coskata, have been visiting the Asia-Pacific region recently to tout their anything-into-ethanol technology. In Thailand, they recommended that the Thai government work to make "Thailand the ethanol manufacturing hub for Asia," according to the Thai newspaper The Nation. Before committing to a Thai location, though, Coskata wants the government to have "clear-cut tax regulations, lower import tariffs for machines, and support in establishing investment." Coskata's chief marketing officer, Wes Bolsen, touted a three- to four-year break-even point for investors who help the company set up an ethanol facility there by 2012.

Here in the U.S., Coskata is waiting on government aid before moving forward on a pilot plant.

[Source: The Nation (Thai newspaper)]

Here in the US, millions of flex-fuel vehicles were sold before significant numbers of E85 stations began to open. Over in Thailand there were already two E85 stations before the first car was even sold. Volvo has launched two E85 capable flex-fuel models in the south-east Asian country. The S80 sedan is assembled locally from a knock down kit while the C30 is imported. The S80 is powered by a 2.5L five cylinder turbo while the C30 gets a 1.8L four cylinder. Like Swedish compatriots Saab, Volvo has promoted flex-fuel vehicles in Europe but has not yet offered them in the US market. Bangkok is expected to have 15 E85 stations by sometime in 2009. It's not known where the E85 in Thailand is coming from, but odds are it's not corn ethanol from the US.

[Source: DomesticFuel.com]

It may only be used in America for certain fleets and forklifts, but in some markets compressed natural gas (CNG) is a practical and greener alternative to liquid carbon fuels. The Thai division of Tata believes it's a good fit and is proudly launching the CNG version of the Tata Xenon Super at this year's upcoming Bangkok International Motor Expo. Although the company launched the diesel version earlier this year, they expect that the CNG variant will do well because of government guarantees that makes the cost of CNG half that of diesel.

Tata Motors is proud to point out that this is the first purpose-built pickup with a factory-installed CNG system which will not only give buyers more confidence in its dependability, but also provide more storage space. The gas is stored under the bed instead of in it as is often the case with aftermarket conversions, a point that is hilariously highlighted in the commercial for the truck (posted after the break). Although we don't speak Thai, we're pretty sure it translates something like this; "That's no CNG truck, it gots no tanks!, Check out my ride, them be dub tanks! He gots no tanks!" "No tanks!" "No tanks!" Thanks to Shrawan for the tip!

[Source: Indian Autos Blog]

Toyota wants to double worldwide sales of its hybrids to over 1 million units a year within the next decade and is adding production capacity to hep it get there. In Japan today, Toyota announced plans to add production of Camry hybrids at two more plants in Australia and Thailand. The Thai plant will start first with about 9,000 hybrids per year starting in 2009. At a press conference attended by both Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe, plans were announced to build hybrids at the company's Altona plant near Melbourne. The plant will start turning out 10,000 hybrids a year in early 2010. The state of Victoria, where the plant is located, reportedly provided $35 million (AUS) in tax incentives to get Toyota add hybrid production. A number of Australian governments have previously pledged to purchase domestically build hybrid vehicles for their fleets as soon as someone builds them. The Camry announcement is the first; General Motors' Holden division will likely join in as well at some point.

[Source: Toyota]

Although Toyota is the undisputed leader in hybrid sales, it has shied away from offering E85-capable vehicles in the United States. In other markets, though, where ethanol is widely available and popular, such as Brazil, Toyota has seen fit to offer vehicles which are able to run on the alcohol fuel. Just-Auto reports that Thailand might be the next market where Toyota could begin offering E85-capable vehicles, citing The Nation newspaper in Thailand. The decision to offer ethanol-capable vehicles is made easier as any gasoline engine can be made to run on E85 with only minor changes, such as new fuel lines and a computer recalibration.

Toyota also hopes that the price of E85 remains low in relation to the price of gasoline, which could help offset the lower mileage that E85 fuel causes. The source article also points to molasses and tapioca as locally-grown feedstocks for the production of the fuel itself.

[Source: Just-Auto - sub. req'd]

The government of Thailand wants to see at least 800,000 fuel efficient cars produced in the country annually by 2015.
Honda, Suzuki, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Tata and Toyota have already joined the program and received government approval for their investments. The latest company to apply to join the program is Volkswagen. Volkswagen had been trying to set up an alliance with Proton in Malaysia but those talks fell through last year. Volkswagen still wanted a location in South-east Asia besides China to build cars. The German manufacturer has previously indicated its intent to build variants of its New Small Family (NSF) cars in several locations around the world. The NSF cars were previewed with the three up! concepts that debuted at auto shows in Frankfurt, Tokyo and Los Angeles last fall. Lower cost NSF variants for developing markets will likely be built closer to those markets. That is probably the vehicle that Volkswagen has in mind for the Thai venture.

[Source: Wards Auto World]

Thailand's eco-car program is so popular, it might be easier for us to report to you who has not joined. VW confirmed Friday they joined after reports they submitted an application to the program in November. "We want to strengthen in South-East Asia," said the head of VW's office in Germany. The company reportedly plans to invest 27 billion baht (912 million dollars) in a plant near Bangkok. Volkswagen wants to double their output of cars from 3.4m vehicles last year to 6.5m by 2018. Once all seven companies (Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Nissan, Suzuki, Tata, VW and possibly Ford) have received approval, it's rumored the investment in Thailand will total 60.17 billion baht (2 billion U.S. dollars). All that from a program for the production of cars that must get more than 57 MPG and emit less than 192 grams of CO₂ per mile.

Related:

• Tata might join automakers with a green car plant in Thailand
• Mitsubishi joins Thailand's eco-car project, Toyota submits application
• Toyota likes free money, signs on to Thailand's eco-car plan
• Suzuki and Nissan benefit from Thailand's low taxes for building cleaner cars
• Low Taxes for Eco-Car Makers in Thailand

[Source: Monsters and Critics]

Thailand has been steadily luring automakers with all sorts of economic sweetners to build plants that make eco-vehicles in the country, and the offers have been working (see links below). Tata Motors is the latest to sign up for some free money and, according to Reuters, has submitted an application to build a manufacturing plant in Thailand. The details are being kept confidential, but the Economic Times says that the plant will be used to build a low-cost Tata vehicle, which I suppose will be the $2,500 eco-car we've been hearing so much about. The plant will expand Tata's production capacity in Thailand; Tata already has a partnership with Thai company Thronburi to assemble pickups and other vehicles in Thailand.

Related:

• Tata's $2,500, 59-mpg offering described as "eco-car," on display in January
• Mitsubishi joins Thailand's eco-car project, Toyota submits application
• Suzuki and Nissan benefit from Thailand's low taxes for building cleaner cars
• Suzuki chairman on Tata's 59 mpg, $2,500 car: details, please
• Tata to unveil India's first fuel cell car in 2008

[Source: Reuters]

January 1st has brought the introduction of E20 fuel in Thailand. Ford is a great promoter of this fuel in Thailand as, since 2005, all the Focuses sold in that country are flex-fuel and can be run with E20. In order to make a big celebration, Ford Thailand gave away Baht 1020 (about $34) of E20 fuel to 100 Ford Focus customers at the PTT petrol station on the expressway in Bang Na area.
E20-compatible Focuses have a green leaf badge at the rear. Some 3.0-liter Escapes also are E20-compatible and carry the same badge.

[Source: Ford of Thailand]