Registered in 1993, GM Thailand is one of the linchpins of the expansion strategy developed by GM for the Asia Pacific Region. In 1996, Thailand was selected as the regional manufacturing site and construction of the assembly center began later that same year on a 190-acre (approx. 400 Rai) plot in the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate in Rayong Province. The THB30 billion (US$1 billion) manufacturing plant was modeled after GM’s plant in Eisenach, Germany, which is ranked among the most efficient automotive facilities in the world.