GM & Honda move up Thai launch of E85 vehicles

Krairit Nilkuha, director general of Thailand’s Department of Alternative Energy, said both General Motors (GM) and Honda are moving up their introductions of E85-compatible cars. This would add more than 1,000 units of E85-compatible vehicles available for sale in Thailand every month. The two automakers are upping their launch dates to take advantage of the increasing consumer interest in vehicles that can run on higher ethanol blends. Consumption of E85 fuel in Thailand has reached 1.85 million liters a month. GM will launch its E85-compatible car later this month, while Honda will debut its E85 model in the latter part of this year. As of May, there were 4,373 E85-compatible vehicles sold in Thailand during the first five months of 2011. Mitsubishi accounted for 3,657 units and Volvo the rest. (June 9,2011)