The rules have now been finalised!
Procurement officer Lee Eun-ji has received an urgent email from the financial department informing her that the companies projected profits have fallen in light of the current economic outlook and projected profits have been reduced. So the total budget for the fleet upgrade has been reduced to ₳45.09 billion ($40 million USD). This information has been forwarded to all relevant parties.
Within budget, you could replace 2116 of the current fleet with the Dynamite L5. Other colors are available upon request, and we thank you for considering Dynamite Motors for your taxi service needs.
from You Know Cars Forums
posted by Y.J-TU-TH
time stamp 12.04.2017 13.02 GMT
(Rough translation)
Plainoi
Tough as an Asian water buffalo. Tough as an elephant.
2001 Plainoi TU
A Plainoi van, Japanese Technology.
Engineered by a German Engineer.
Reliable, Adequate power. Drive however you want, it’s not going to break.
With service dealers all over the place.
On sale now.
Plainoi Traudkan Co. LTD.
For more information dial 02-112-44107
(Rough translation)
I bet if this was in the guess what car thread, you’d never have gotten it!
What you’re seeing here is pretty much the only vaguely “successful” (in that some unit actually left the showroom floor) attempt at establishing an automotive industry in Thailand. 2001 Plainoi TU van.
Plainoi is a company specialized in vehicle conversion. As in you get a Japanese compact pick up truck chassis and then they put on special bodies on it. Usually in station wagon guise or military jeep.
Established in 1956. They started by making station wagon bodies for Road Vanquist 4x4, a British Military Vehicle. Possibly the first attempt at such conversion. They also put closed body on WW2 or post-WW2 Japanese Mitsushita Jeeps and sell on for both government and civilian use. They were indeed quite successful with those. And when the Vietnam war started, they also do conversion for American Jeep. In fact, if you had a body-on-frame machine you want bodies that suits your need, Plainoi was the company you need. They can be call “Coachworks” quite easily.
Now, in 1960, the first car factory was established in Thailand, making Japanese Ossan. Many more follows. 1961 German Carlotta, 1962 Italian FATI, 1963 British Conan, and in 1965 with Mitsushita.
For whatever reason, in 1966. Plainoi saw an opportunity to use the know how of their own car conversion to make their own car. With help of a French company, FRE. To develop their own family car. Feautring many technologies such as overhead cam V6 engine, disk brakes and hydropneumatic suspension. A few prototype was done and you could read about it in my previous post. “The Plainoi Truadkan” Which actually translated roughly to Plainoi Station Wagon. By the way, the full company name was Plainoi Truadkan Co.LTD. So that’s clearly is some imaginative naming. Or they simply never got to naming process because the plan collapsed in early 1967. Many believe it was due to the fact that Plainoi was in no position to set up a car factory, let alone as advanced as the prototype was.
After that, Plainoi continued their conversion business. And they were quite successful. Even more so with compact truck chassis of the 1970’s and 1980’s. With tough and reliable chassis of established Mitsushita and Ossan. Yet with practicality of a closed station wagon bodies featuring up to 9 seats.
Thailand never had a national car. Despite Malaysia having one since early 1980’s. Plainoi was the closest to them actually having their own car company. And the idea seems especially far away during the 1980’s. With the far-right government seeing automobiles as a “luxury item” and not something that’s necessary. (Despite being chauffeured in luxurious Carlotta themselves, those asswankering swine).
But then in the late 1980’s. With the democratically elected government of Chatichai Choonhavan promoting international trades. With the country seeing up to 13% growth a year. Businesses was booming, Plainoi included.
It was in 1992 then that the hope of Thailand’s National Automobile was the closest to reality. Attempts at coup d’état resulted in Bloody May. But after that was resolved, the country growth, and thus automotive consumption went through the roof. It was perhaps the best chance if there ever was one.
Plainoi at this period was doing quite well. And with their experience in high utility, incredibly practical designs. They went onto a quest to design the perfect utility vehicle for Thailand. Tough, reliable, economical.
But then, in 1993. The utility sales did not went up. It was luxury car sales that did. Imports duty have been reduced massively and a lot of business people who’ve profited from booming economy were buying Carlottas and Bavarias at very high rate. Utility vehicle was not in the vogue. But Plainoi did not know anything about anything other than that.
But they didn’t stop. They already hired an executive engineer who’ve worked with Carlotta since the 1970’s to help with designing the car… Or rather… a van.
The chassis itself is borrowed, it’s designed closely inspired those of the established Mitsushita Boarilla compact car. But obviously nothing is interchangable. It’s longer, tougher, more for utility use. But the engine IS of a Mitsushita. A 2.3 litre commercial unit fitted to many of the Mitsushita utility models. And also minivan.
They seemed to have great combination of parts. That particular Mitsushita engine is incredibly tough. Notorious for going half a million kilometres without any issue. And the chief engineer working on it have done some legendary tough designs in the past. (Carlotta UW115 Diesel comes to mind, those will go on literally forever).
But what they lack pretty much kills all the chance of the car being a success. They did not have a vision.
What is it going to be? A van for a man? Or a family minivan? Because of the changing demographics and unclear target consumer. The designed that was started in 1992 that should’ve finished by 1996 was delayed constantly. Many spyshot pictures was released and many show cars was shown. But nothing substantial was actually available.
And then in 1997, the economic crisis happened.
Thailand suffered a lot then. The booming economic suddenly collapsed overnight. Sales of automobile, the same with every other industry, went down massively. But somehow, Plainoi persevered. By that time the van has been in development for 5 years. And it was damn nearly complete even though it still wasn’t sure what to make of it.
The van got the name around 1999, during one of the country’s autoshow. It was the “TU”. With no explanation what so ever why it’s called so. But the factory to produce it still wasn’t ready. And there’s no clear plan to produce it actually. It seems that this is again a vaporware the old 1966 Plainoi Traudkan was. Plainoi business suffered during this period and they didn’t exactly rolled in cash.
BUT. They did manage to set up a factory. And the Plainoi TU did went on sale! Apparently they commissioned the car to be assembled at Carlotta South West Bangkok plant. (Which is not unusual, other few foreign manufacturers did and still do assemble their CKD kit at Carlotta South West Bangkok plant).
The memory is very hazy now. I cannot recalled ever seeing those Plainoi TU on the road. I did saw some parked, and a few at the 2001 Bangkok International Motorshow. But I have never seen one running and driving.
In the table showing the amount of cars sold in 2001. Plainoi managed to shift 11,230 unit for that year. But nobody ever know how many it was TU. That number was for the whole brand which includes a lot of converted Japanese truck chassis.
But there’s the above advert and a few brochure (which shows the price to be about $12,000) to confirmed the car existence.
There’s still very little information about this very weird car. I’m trying to find more, but I’m struggling. Maybe I have to do some deeper research. I’ll come back when I find something.
That is an extremely long description for a van, but at least it explains the origins of the brand nicely. I couldn’t bring myself to build anything larger and/or more upmarket than an affordable mid-sized sedan - I just wanted to cut costs without sacrificing too many of the attributes essential for a taxi, especially since I wanted to replace the whole fleet and then enlarge it for good measure.
It’s necessary for a “brand” that has never officially existed in a lore. Well it does exist, but very obscure.
Time for LLA to enter the ring…
The 2001 LLA Incogness LuxeTax
As part of the 2000 - 2001 Redesign of LLA’s Lineup the all new Incogness offers a smooth 5 speed manual paired with a 1.6L v6 Twin Turbo producing a sensible 106 Hp. Furthermore with LLA’s Air suspension an adjustable ride height allows for navigation on the toughest of city streets without scraping the bumper. With 5 seats the LuxTax variant offers plenty of room for use as a general taxi that is also safe thanks to a new advanced safety system. In continuation suicide doors allow easy access to the rear seats of the vehicle making this perfect for usage of a taxi. On a final note the LuxeTax also offers reliability and efficiency, with a maximum efficiency of 9.14 L/100 Km and a reliability score of 70.5.
Under LLA’s new city planning sceme we offer to replace all Genral Purpose Taxi’s and add another 900 to the fleet, that’d be 2000 for $26.8m which leaves enough to update the Premuim or Jumbo Taxi Lineup too.
The Brief summary of LLA can be found here: LLA - LinkLukeAuto's Company Thread
average reliability is trim reliability, the one on the overview tab at the end.
we just use the term interchangeably here.
delete this. edit your post. don’t double post.
just use tagging instead of replying with a new post
Could you clarify what this means? Do we have to explicitly specify a ‘strategy’ or it is inferred from the vehicle provided? Considering only one vehicle can be submitted, do they compete in all three ‘markets’ automatically, or do vehicles have to be strictly focused on one market? Are all three markets equally viable, or is it a gamble to decide which an entrant should target? Etc.
Good question, well the age and number of vehicles and the total number of seats are all there for you to consider. The company wants to maximise profits.
You should specify what your vehicle is intended to replace and preferably how many vehicles your plan offers. A vehicle that manages to balance all three segments would be the ideal but difficult approach.
A key aspect of the challenge for any entries is if it can replace the aged and outdated fleet vehicles. For example, all pre-1990s vehicles are carburetted and really should be replaced as most don’t meet current standards for emission and fuel economy.
So in a sense, all three markets can be equally viable assuming you can replace the outdated stock regardless of its category. You will be defining if the company is moving towards deluxe, jumbo or general taxis as the bulk of its fleet.
You can choose to keep the current ratio or shift towards any of the three markets. Procurement officer Lee Eun-ji will then decided if you have chosen poorly or chosen wisely.
Capitalism is coming to Anikatia. Therefore it is only appropriate that your people should live like capitalists. Bring a taste of the West home with the new…
Cresge Halberd
Please note that the vehicle being delivered does not include decals or “Taxi” beacon.**
You can replace your entire standard fleet for $12.1m.
**Mainly because I never released the Taxi pack. 
Is any conceivable advantage conferred by coming under budget but not replacing all of the vehicles in any of the markets, or is coming under budget not rewarded at all (should spend as much of the budget as possible)? Also, is the total fleet size fixed?
https://youtu.be/ZP1R259p3nI (P.S. the quality is terrible on purpose)
Also, I propose that the General Fleet be replaced by the Chesterfield Mk 1B and that the Deluxe Fleet be replaced by the Chesterfield Mk 1L (a different trim).
Business Plan:
General taxis:
1 100 currently in service
-Replace all for $13 310 000 total [12100(1100)]
Deluxe taxis:
372 currently in service
-Replace all for $7 700 400 total [20700(372)]
Replacing the current fleet (excluding minivans) would therefor cost $21 010 400.
That leaves about 40% of the budget left, optionally one could add another 1 100 general taxis for another $13 310 000.
It would then amount to $34 320 400. The operational costs of using one base and engine are a lot lower than that of the current fleet therefor also making it economically sustainable…
Cheerio
Dat advert 
Its a terrible ad…so terrible that I actually enjoyed it…
Any chance to get the taxi pack released in the next couple of days??
KRO MP2MS
KRO presents, from Kazakhstan to Anikatia, the MP2 in MS trim. All available MS’s are being sold to you, due to export issues. With a 2L inline four, this is the best mass-movement taxi, moving 8 people with relative ease. Each minibus is being sold to you for the low, low price of 10,800, this allows for the replacement/addition of 3,703 taxis.
uhmm a 1.6 i6 to compete with my 1.6 v6…
