Suzuki is shutting down Thailand automobile factory

It’s official: Suzuki Motor Corporation is making a big change in Southeast Asia.

The automaker that specializes in small cars has made the decision to shut down their factory in Thailand. The plant is run by Suzuki Motor Thailand (SMT) and will be closed at the end of 2025.

This will conclude the production operation of Suzuki in Thailand that has been running since March 2012, and produced as much as 60,000 units for local sale and export.

The Thai factory produces the Ciaz sedan, the Celerio hatchback, as well as the Swift hatchback. These models are aimed at the Thai Eco Car program which experts in the region say has had setbacks and had problems gaining full momentum.

They say that the decision is part of a review of their global production structure. That means Suzuki will be focusing their manufacturing in other countries in Asia such as Japan, India and Indonesia; markets where Suzuki has a solid footprint in. That also means they will switch to an importer/distributor business model in Thailand.

India is particularly interesting, as Maruti Suzuki is the number one automaker (and number one motorcycle manufacturer) there. Indonesia is also a strong market for Suzuki, and they produce numerous models in the factory there.

But what does this mean for the Philippines? Quite simply: not a lot.

Our automobile model mix is generally brought in from Japan, India, and Indonesia anyway. The only model we get from Thailand right now is the Swift as the old Celerio and Ciaz already bowed out of the local market. Currently, the Celerio, Dzire, Spresso, and the five-door Jimny come from India. Meanwhile, the Ertiga, XL7, Carry and APV (yes the APV) are from Indonesia. The three-door Jimmy hails from Japan.

What this decision gives Suzuki, however, is the refocusing of their efforts (and resources) towards electrification and optimizing other factories in the region and Asia in general. We expect these new electrified (and/or EV) models to come from India where Suzuki is very strong. That means we might seem models like Fronx, Swift, Spacia, and other future HEV or EV models.