India's biggest car maker, Tata Motors has said that it has delayed plans to setup a new assembly plant with an investment of 10 billion baht aimed at serving the large ASEAN market because the sales have not been significant to support expansion.

Managing director Karl Slym said, "Our sales should amount to at least 20,000 units per year to be worth investment in the new assembly plant's construction." Mr. Slym leads Tata's operations in India and international markets including South Korea, Thailand, Spain, Indonesia and South Africa.

Tata Motors (Thailand) has recorded an increase in sales from 4,586 in 2011 to 4,597 vehicles for the financial year. The company had announced plans to set up a manufacturing unit with annual capacity of 60,000 vehicles to offer vehicles in the Asean Economic Community, which his likely to be implemented fully from 2016.

The company has said that it has finalised Thailand and Indonesia as the two final candidates for the manufacturing facility but said that it will announce its decision after a period of 18 months. The company is now instead focusing on boosting exports from its Samut Prakan assembly plant, which is run in association with Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co.