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GM To Withdraw Chevrolet From Thailand, Sell Rayong Plant To Great Wall Motors

General Motors announced this week that it would be discontinuing the Holden brand and pulling out of the Australian market, but that isn’t the only major change it’s making to its international operations.

GM has also announced it will withdraw Chevrolet from the domestic market in Thailand by the end of 2020. It will no longer operate any manufacturing facilities in the country, either, signing a binding agreement to sell its Rayong plant to Chinese company Great Wall Motors. The company first established its Thai operations in 2000.

GM Rayong plant

Rayong currently builds the global Chevrolet Colorado and Chevrolet Trailblazer, which are also exported to Australia and New Zealand as the Holden Colorado and Trailblazer. The automaker says it “undertook a detailed analysis of the business case for future production at the Rayong manufacturing facility in Thailand,” and decided that “low plant utilization and forecast volumes have made continued GM production at the site unsustainable.”

“Our decision to cease production at the Rayong site is based on GM’s global strategy and optimization of our manufacturing footprint around the world. In this context, sale of the Rayong plants to (Great Wall Motors) is the best option to support future vehicle manufacturing at this site,” GM international operations senior VP Julian Blissett said in a statement.

The decision to pull out of Thailand comes as GM is looking to free up cash flow to invest in new technology such as electric and autonomous vehicles. Its operations in Thailand, along with those in Australia and New Zealand, would have also required investment to keep them competitive going forward, so GM is instead focusing on markets that are already driving significant returns, such as China, Latin America and South Korea.

“I’ve often said that we will do the right thing, even when it’s hard, and this is one of those times,” said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “We are restructuring our international operations, focusing on markets where we have the right strategies to drive robust returns, and prioritizing global investments that will drive growth in the future of mobility, especially in the areas of EVs and AVs.

GWM is expected to build vehicles from its Haval brand at the former GM Rayong plant, which will be sold locally and exported to Australia. Haval produces a range of crossover and SUV models that will fill the gap that will be left by the departure of the Chevrolet brand.

Just like in New Zealand and Australia, GM says it “will honor all warranties and continue to provide servicing and spare parts,” In Thailand. It also said local operations “will continue to handle all recall and any safety-related issues, working with the appropriate governmental agencies.”

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Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. So where will the 2.8 Duramax come from now?

    Reply
    1. Ohio

      Reply
    2. The diesel option will no longer be available for the Colorado. The 2.8 is not made in Ohio.

      Reply
  2. !. GM should have exported the international Trailblazer to the US. 2. What does this do to the availability of the diesel engine in the mid size Colorado and Canyon? Will Great Wall Motors now manufacture these engines for export to GM?

    Reply
    1. Reply
      1. That Ohio diesel Duramax factory builds the HD truck diesel. I’s unrelated to the mid size Colorado 4 cylinder diesel. But, since the new 2020 Chev 1500 pickup truck inline 6 cylinder diesel has so much torque ( 460 lbs feet ) GM could build a smaller inline 5 cylinder version with less torque for the Colorado and Canyon in the Ohio factory. All things being equal, an inline 5 cylinder based on the inline 6, would be 383 pounds feet of torque. That’s about 14 lbs feet more than the 369 lbs feet of the existing 4 cylinder Colorado diesel. It would be 2.5 liters, meaning it will be more fuel efficient than the existing 2.8 liter Colorado diesel. It will also be lighter, meaning it can carry more weight with an inline 5 cylinder.

        Reply
        1. Re above for my proposed inline 5 cylinder diesel based on the 2020 Silverado 1500 pickup inline 6. The Colorado 2.8 liter 4 cylinder diesel weighs 520 pounds. The 2020 inline 3.0 liter inline 6 weighs 467 pounds. If GM built an inline 5 cylinder diesel, it would weigh just over 400 pounds. That’s a weight savings of at least 100 to 120 pounds over the existing Colorado 4 cylinder diesel. Also, all things being equal, the HP of the 5 cylinder inline diesel will be 230 HP, based on the rated 277 HP of the inline 6 now in the Silverado.

          Reply
  3. Mary is going to keep shrinking GM until it becomes profitable! How many markets has she abandoned so far? She’s truly an old school GM thinker aligned with Roger B. Smith and Bob Stempel. GM has been shrinking their portfolio and their footprint since the 1990s always saying they were doing it to become more profitable. Meanwhile better managed carmakers are growing and expanding.

    Reply
    1. Well, GM did go BK with more brands, factories, marketshare, etc.. Larger was done, VW will probably the next to learn in the upcoming economic WW3.

      With that either the current “cute” Trailblazer is the only Trailblazer or the bof Trailblazer will be made in Mexico or Missouri

      Reply
    2. @Ci2Eye: “Mary is going to keep shrinking GM until it becomes profitable!”

      Sound great. Make it as efficient as possible offering the kinds of product folks want…and discontinuing those that folks don’t. What’s wrong with that??

      Reply
      1. The problem is GM is not offering products people want, that’s why their hightailing it out of Thailand and Australia.

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      2. Why not just close the whole lot down and invest in index funds ?

        Because that is not her job.

        Reply
    3. They first need to make cars inside and out of high quality. If they do this, the the cars become in demand. If they are in demand they can enter other markets. It begs the question: if they are making these cuts, does that mean they will doing things differently and make a quality vehicle? Many people say quality is either there or it isn’t. Other people think quality is like a gradient from low to high. It’s a philosophy that can drive corporate decision making. Toyota for example believes in the former. Like a light switch it’s either on or off. You have to wonder how GM views it going forward.

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  4. LOL. GM is dead.

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  5. The same Great Wall which GM sold their remaining plant in India short time ago.

    From GM to GWM

    Reply
    1. saves on branding just add a W

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  6. why keep losing money in countries with no real hope of making a profit in the near future? maybe that will make trucks more reasonably priced which is where my hard earned semoliones go

    Reply
    1. Let’s see. GM can’t compete in Europe, can’t compete in the Far East (outside the PRC), can’t compete in the US in the sedan segment, it appears they have ceded their spot as a global automotive player. Remember how we snickered at the likes of Fiat Chrysler, Peugeot, Volvo, etc? They are still around in segments GM has abandoned. Well, the stock is strong.

      Reply
  7. To be honest the time is coming where many Automakers will not make their own cars. They will design them and engineer the products. Then they will have independent companies MFG them at lower cost possibly in China.

    This formula is what the tech industry has used for years.

    Almost all your high tech products like cell phones and TV’s are designed here but made there.

    Why do they do that? Because no one here will pay the higher prices due to labor cost here and they will not work for less money to MFG cars. Something has to give and this is the way around it.

    National pride for many stops once the dollars come out of the Wallet.

    The public has chosen and the MFG’s are just responding. Those who stay here either have special products or a price structure that permits it but few can do that anymore.

    Reply
    1. 2M6 is exactly correct. This will be the future as we already do it with most other products.

      Reply
    2. Magna already does this with BMW, Mini, Toyota, Audi… Magna can design and build the entire car as well as set-up the entire plant.

      Ford did it with the Ford GT and Multimatic.

      Reply
    3. do you even know how much the labor costs are in the US?

      Reply
  8. Just like the US military; Retreat and withdraw.

    Reply
  9. Funny that they just introduced the new Captiva in Thailand late last year. Oh well.. it’s a rebadged Baojun 530 so they can always slap the original label back on.

    I also noticed they recently introduced a new RS trim for the Colorado in Thailand , which deletes – get this – the rear bumper. Not sure that’s something I’d want to lose.

    Reply
  10. i believe if gm quality is high and they start making them more complete to compete with koreans china and the rest of them the market will be gms to compete

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  11. In fact Barra has to quit GM.

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  12. My question is who is going to buy General Motors Corporation. Seems to me with all the retreats from markets and selling off major assets that General Motors, is going to merge or be bought. Thoughts?

    Reply
  13. I used to live ~30 miles from that plant. Sad to see those skilled workers lose their jobs. Hopefully Great Wall will hire them.

    Reply
  14. The new GM’s goal: Zero production…

    Reply
    1. Apple is one of the biggest corporations in the world yet they build nothing with 100% of their products outsourced to the People’s Republic of China. Works for them and no union issues. No retirement and benefits plan. No sick, overweight, stone, drunk workers to deal with.

      Reply
  15. Mary Barra need to go

    Reply

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