Ford to Expand Thailand Joint Venture;

Ford, whose latest models can be purchased from East Petersburg Ford Dealers, is in a joint partnership with Mazda to produce a next-generation model line of pickups. Ford has been in partnership with Mazda for several years now, and Ford is looking to continue its business relationship with the Japanese automaker. Philadelphia Nissan Dealers sell the latest Nissan models, and Nissan is not going to be working with Ford to produce the new pickup vehicle models.

However, Nissan will offer its own next generation pickup models that will likely continue to be popular such as the Nissan Frontier and the Nissan Titan which can e found at Salem Nissan Dealer businesses near you. The production of the new pickup model will begin at a Thailand factory called AutoAlliance and it will begin in mid 2011. The $350 million investment in the plant will be used to fund upgrades, tooling, and employee training.

Thailand is Southeast Asia's second largest economy and many automakers have turned to Thailand as a source of cheap but skilled labor. Labor costs have skyrocked in Japan and even in other countries as the yen and other currencies have gained on the dollar. Light vehicle production has become popular in Thailand because of numerous government incentives and due to its large availability of cheap land.

Thailand also has a large population of 67 million people which provides a steady and skilled labor resource to automakers. Mazda and Ford have combined to invest almost 2 billion into the Thai plant over the past few years, and the venture between the two companies was created in 1995. At one point in time, Ford owned Mazda completely, but now Ford owns a share of 13 percent in the company. Ford and Mazda hope to develop a next generation pickup vehicle that does well in many market segments.