Honda Automobile (Thailand) will kick off its Thailand second passenger cars assembly plant operations by next week in bid to double annual outputs amid gloomy export outlook for the next year.

Honda new factory will have the capacity of 120,000 units per annum in addition to its current capacity of the same level, a company spokesman Adisak Rohitasune said.

The new plant will be used for the assembly of three models of Honda existing passenger cars namely Accord, Jazz, and City.

Honda forecasted an export growth of 12 per cent at 73 billion baht for this year, when compared with 65 billion baht a year earlier.

“We have seen a healthy growth in both local and export markets, which is a reverse trend to the current global market slowdown,” Mr. Adisak said.