The Thailand Board of Investment has approved plans for Indian car manufacturers Tata Motors, Toyota Motors, and Mitsubishi Motors to build eco-friendly cars there. Together, the three companies are expected to make an investment worth 16.67 billion Bhat ($528.7 million) for the project. All three plants will be built on an industrial estate in eastern Thailand.

Tata Motors has pledged an investment worth 7.3 billion Bhat for setting up a facility to manufacture 1 lakh cars per annum. The company is expected to start production of eco-cars in 2010 at the new facility. As much as 52 percent of the production will be utilized in the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa.

Toyota Motors would be investing 4.64 billion Bhat for a greenfield plant. The facility will manufacture 1 lakh cars. Toyota plans to start production in 2012. Their markets of focus are the South-East Asian countries.

Mitsubishi Motors also plans a similar amount of investment that will have a production capacity of 1, 07,000 units per annum. At least 88 per cent of the production will be exported. Mitsubishi also plans to commence production of eco-cars in 2010. It plans to export these fuel efficient cars to Australia, Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.