This paper intends to examine the transformation of the automotive industry in Thailand, where the role of the government has been closely linked with the privately-run institutions, namely the Thailand Automotive Industry Association (TIA) and Thailand Automotive Institute, in promoting the industry. The Thai automotive industry has shown enormous dynamism in 1990s, when the policy of
2liberalization and deregulations were adopted to comply with the period of global sourcing in the production networks. The 1997 economic crisis, and the deep recession in 1991, led to major restructuring as some Japanese companied rescued their parts and component suppliers in their production networks in Thailand, and also used regional networks to promote capacity utilization and economies of scale of the newly-expanded production capacity of the Thai automotive industry.
