For GM, a bright spot in Thailand

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: The chief executive of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, arrived in Thailand on Tuesday faced with a decidedly brighter picture than the losses, layoffs and drawn-out restructuring his company is facing in the United States. GM sold 35% more cars last year in Asia than it did in 2005, riding the wave of Asia’s expanding markets. Its market share has also inched up.

On Wednesday, Wagoner is expected to announce an expansion of GM’s production of small cars at its plant east of Bangkok and the construction of an engine plant for its Colorado pickup truck, said Hajime Yamamoto, Thailand director of CSM Worldwide, a Detroit- based automotive market forecasting company.

This would be good news for Thailand, which has become a hub for car manufacturers serving Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East, and which is now Asia's third-largest car exporter after Japan and South Korea. The move was an indication that GM is betting that continued growth in Asia could help ease the contraction in sales in the North America, which were down 20% in the second quarter.

Asia, Europe and Latin America are now the bright spots on GM’s balance sheet, with the company selling more cars overseas than it does in the US. “Asia is front and center in terms of strategy and future direction,” said John Bonnell, director of forecasting in Asia for J.D. Power & Associates. “Their big success story is in China.” Much of Asia remains the home turf of Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers. Although General Motors has increased its market share in Asia, by its own calculations, to nearly 7% from 5.9% in the last three years, its sales remain small compared with North America, where it still makes one out of every five cars sold. But GM’s smaller stature in Asia and the lack of any legacy costs of pensions and health care have allowed the company to be more nimble. Using technology from Asian partners, GM is aggressively marketing itself as a producer of smaller, fuel-efficient cars. In Thailand, GM has also benefited in the last decade from its partnership with the Japanese truckmaker Izuzu, which provided engines for GM pickups and gave it access to suppliers.