April Thai Sales Show Flood Effects Receding

Surging new-vehicle demand follows Thailand’s nationwide flooding as April sales soar 30.5% to a record 87,788 units.

The result pushed the 4-month total up 20% to 367,109 units, and Toyota Thailand, which collates sales figures for the Thai industry, predicts the country’s economic growth will remain buoyant.

Toyota Thailand Executive Vice President Wutthikorn Suriyachantananon says the industry’s fast recovery from last fall’s floods should soon allow auto makers, now back at normal production capacity, to deliver vehicles booked during the Bangkok International Motor Show.

With the Honda Thailand plant in Ayutthaya reopening in late March after months under water, passenger-car sales rose 23.4% to 38,211 units in April and commercial-vehicle deliveries jumped 35.2% to 49,132, including 1-ton pickup volume up 34.8% to 42,163, as the economic recovery spurred spending.

However, the effect of the floods was reflected in the year-to-date data, with passenger-car sales rising just 1.7% to 139,482 units. The less-impacted CV segment climbed 33.9% to 225,955.

Toyota’s April vehicle sales gained 27.9% to 31,004 units for a 35.3% share of the market. Isuzu deliveries grew 13.7% to 13,418 for a 15.3% share, while Honda’s 67.2% increase to 12,425 pushed its share to 14.2%.

Honda, whose plant resumed operations with monthly capacity between 20,000 and 25,000 units, marked its return to the car segment with April sales surging 75.2% to 12,273, not far behind the usual segment-dominating Toyota, up 19.6% to 13,939.

Nissan was a distant third with deliveries up 36.6% to 4,490 units for an 11.8% share.

Within the CV segment, the 1-ton pickup truck market kept Toyota on top with sales rising 30.3% to 15,282 units for a 36.2% market share. Isuzu followed, up 12.0% to 12,129 for a 28.8% share, ahead of Mitsubishi, up 44.8% to 6,573 and a 15.6% share.

After four months, Toyota led the Thai market with sales climbing 29.2% to 152,193 units, giving it a 41.5% share. Isuzu followed with sales rising 16.7% to 63,182 for a 17.2% share, ahead of Nissan, up 32.9% to 33,195 and a 9.0% share.

In the passenger-car market, Toyota raised its 4-month deliveries 17.0% to 65,150 units for 46.7% of the segment. Nissan surged 66.1% to 25,693 for an 18.4% share, ahead of Honda, down 57.1% to 14,873 and a 10.7% share.

The competitive 1-ton pickup segment saw Toyota sales advance 36.5% to 69,044 units, good for a 39.1% share, ahead of Isuzu, up 20.9% to 56,700 for a 32.1% share, and Mitsubishi, jumping 62.4% to 20,938 and an 11.9% share.

Honda, which aims to sell 150,000 units this year despite its flood-delayed start, announced price reductions for some of its vehicles as it launched a new 5-model Civic range in Thailand.

Executive Vice President Pitak Pruittisarikorn says in a statement Honda’s sales goal includes 35,000 units of the redesigned Civic range.

Mazda Thailand, which saw April sales jump 46.7% to 4,609 units for a 4-month total up 44.2% to 18,873, has targeted a full-year increase of 43% to a record 60,000. Managing Director Choichi Yuki says that goal will be highly challenging for an auto maker that entered the Thai market only 13 years ago.

“In recent years we have sold a total 42,000 units (annually), and we have 135 distributors covering almost all provinces around the country,” he says in a statement.

Mitsubishi Thailand is stepping up production of its new Mirage in response to higher-than-expected demand. President Nobuyuki Murahashi says the auto maker has taken orders for 20,000 units of the global compact eco-car since its launch in late March. The increased output will allow delivery of the cars to customers by the end of the year.

Mitsubishi spent TB16 billion ($510 million) to build its third Thai plant, with an initial annual capacity of 150,000 units, to make the Mirage. It will begin exports to Japan in July and then to Southeast Asia, Europe and other markets in that order.

General Motors’ Chevrolet unit continued to lead the non-Japanese segment in April with sales spiking 78.6% to 5,435 units, giving it a 4-month total up 11.4% to 20,737.

Antonio Zara, vice president-sales, marketing and aftersales for GM Southeast Asia operations, GM Thailand and Chevrolet Sales Thailand, says the auto maker is entering the second quarter on a positive note.

“Our products are selling on merit, and I believe we have a very strong and relevant product portfolio for the markets in Thailand and Southeast Asia,” Zara says in a statement. “We have more new products in the pipeline for Thailand and the region.”

Ford deliveries softened for the month, down 2.4% to 2,550 units, but its 12,518 year-to-date sales were 34.0% ahead of like-2011.

Toyota says Thailand’s combined passenger-car and CV sales totals for April include 1,672 BMW units not specified by segment.