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The industry minister said the auto company invited him and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to witness and to officially kick-start its assembly line on March 31 to mark the completion of post-flood rehabilitation.

Previously, the government allowed the company to import zero-tariff cars until June 30 this year to sell to flood-affected people as well as to offset its output losses, aiming to maintain the domestic market share.

Apart from Honda, giant automakers, Suzuki Motor (Thailand) and new investors affirmed their intention to invest and continue using Thailand as their production base, the minister said, adding that some Thailand-based automakers, including Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu and Mitsubishi had announced plans to increase their domestic production capacity.

Referring to recent discussions with the South Korean ambassador to Thailand, Mr Pongsvas said that Korean automobile manufacturers KIA, Daewoo and Ssangyong were currently interested in investing in auto production in Thailand as well.

In a related development, Anchalee Chaleechan, Corporate Communications Division Manager of Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd, said Indonesia’s total annual car sales stood at 890,000 units as its economy significantly expanded. She explained that the expansion in the archipelago, which was earlier announced, had been planned before the Thailand’s flood crisis, reiterating that the plan would not affect the company’s investment in Thailand.

The country’s worst flood in decades late 2011 submerged and ravaged industrial estates in the central provinces which house major industrial factories including Honda Automobile (Thailand)'s automobile plant at Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya. As of March 15, 522 of 893 flood-hit industrial plants were fully recovered.

Meanwhile, the Thai Board of Investment (BOI) reported that entrepreneurs had imported machinery and materials worth some Bt80 billion (over $2.67 million) for 303 industrial projects. (MCOT online news) the topic of this news i was read Honda won’t leave Thailand: Thai Minister of Industry. After i read this news that said Thai Industry Minister Pongsvas Svasti on Wednesday affirmed that Japanese automaker Honda will not relocate its production base in Thailand to another country despite huge losses in output during the country’s mega flood late last year.