[above: The first made-in-Thailand Mazda 2 saloon arrives in Singapore with a price tag that's still unaffected by the COE spike. ]

By SAMUEL EE

SINGAPORE motorists may soon get a wider range of less expensive Japanese cars built in Thailand, but ultimately, they will still not be as attractively priced as Korean models, say some distributors.

With car registration taxes here based on declared value, the Koreans will still have the advantage because of their lower OMV or open market value.

It had been reported that more Japanese models will be assembled in Thailand and sold here, such as the upcoming Mazda2 sedan and new Nissan March, among others. The Mazda 2 saloon will be launched here next month, while the fourth-generation March hatchback will arrive in the fourth quarter.

'Cars sourced from Japan won't be as competitively priced,' said Ron Lim, general manager of authorised Nissan distributor Tan Chong Motor Sales, who added that the 1.4-litre March will also be exported back to Japan for sale there.

Mazda and Nissan are not the only Japanese manufacturers to offer models from their assembly operations to Thailand. Toyota has been supplying volume models produced in Thailand for the Singapore market since 2004, because of this cost advantage.

But, while such Thai-assembled units may be cheaper than their made-in-Japan counterparts, they will still not be able to fully challenge the Korean models.

'At the end of the day, the Koreans will still be more competitively priced from sheer economies of scale, because they are supplying to the global market,' said the manager of a mid-sized Japanese dealership here. 'They are also willing to cut their profit margins to conquer the market.'

Hyundai's main plant in Seoul, for example, has an annual production capacity of two million vehicles, without counting those of its other facilities in North America, China, India, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Compare that with Toyota Motor Thailand's roughly 400,000 vehicles.

The manager said that Japanese carmakers with Asean plants have an advantage only in the other Afta or Asean Free Trade Area countries, where tariffs on automobiles have been or will be reduced. But in Singapore, the tax structure is based on the stated value of the vehicle.