Suzuki Motor Corp., Japan's second-largest minicar maker, will spend ¥31.4 billion to build a car factory in Thailand.

The plant will start operation in 2010 and will produce more than 100,000 cars a year by 2015, Suzuki said Friday in a release on its Web site.

Suzuki, the maker of Wagon R minicars, has a license from the Thai government to build fuel-efficient cars. The Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture-based carmaker is expanding sales in Asia outside Japan as the domestic market shrinks.

Automakers must build vehicles with engines no larger than 1.3 liters that are able to run more than 20 km on a liter of gasoline to qualify for the Thai government license. The plant must make at least 100,000 vehicles annually by the fifth year of operation.