GENERAL Motors is to invest US$445 million in a new diesel-engine factory in Thailand and to upgrade vehicle assembly facilities as it seeks to boost growth in Asia.

The diesel-engine plant will be its first in Southeast Asia, the car maker said yesterday.

The Thai investment extends Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner's strategy of expanding in the Asia-Pacific region, where sales grew about 10 percent in the first half in contrast to slumping demand in the United States. The Detroit-based manufacturer is shutting plants in North America in the wake of a US$15.5 billion second-quarter loss, Bloomberg News said.

The diesel-engine factory is due to open in 2010 and will be able to build 100,000 2.5-liter and 2.8-liter engines annually, GM said.

During the second quarter, a deteriorating US market overshadowed gains overseas. GM dropped 5 percent to 2.29 million vehicles but demand in Asia and Latin America led GM to a 16-percent rise outside Europe and North America.

GM said last month it planned to generate US$4 billion to US$7 billion by selling as-yet unidentified assets. The company may sell or shut down its Hummer SUV division as the rising price of gasoline cuts demand for heavy vehicles. US sales of Hummer vehicles dropped 44 percent in the first seven months of the year. 'We are getting some significant interest in Hummer and other assets,' Wagoner said yesterday. Asset sales are a 'lengthy process,' he added.

GM said in June it planned to cut North American truck production capacity by 700,000 vehicles. That effort includes closing four plants that make pickups, SUVs and medium-duty trucks by 2010.

Six of every 10 new GM vehicles are now sold overseas as US production shrinks.

GM expects to sell as many as 1.2 million vehicles in China this year and boost sales in India to about 220,000 in a couple of years, Wagoner said.