Pickup Slowdown Leaves Thailand July Sales in Red

New-vehicle sales in Thailand edged down 0.4% year-on-year in July as rising car purchases just missed offsetting falling pickup deliveries.

Toyota Thailand, which collates national sales for the industry, says the July total of 60,635 units comprised 24,358 passenger cars, up 9.6%, and 36,277 CVs, down 6.1%.

Within the commercial-vehicle segment, the 1-ton pickup market fell 7.7% to 29,177 units.

Toyota Thailand Vice President Vudhigorn Suriyachantananont says the July growth of the car market was helped by the popularity of recently released new models.

After seven months, the Thai market continued edging its way back toward positive territory, down just 0.02% at 429,265 units, with the car market off 9.2% at 153,528 and CV deliveries up 5.7% at 275,737.

The launch of new-car models from various automakers and this month’s Bangkok auto show were important factors in the recovery of the car market, he says.

Yanyont Square Group President and CEO Jaruay Khanmanee, who organized the sales event, tells the Bangkok Post he expects to generate bookings of 20,000 cars during the 9-day event, down from 25,000 a year ago.

“Although the 2016 target is below last year’s show, we believe the car market sentiment in the second half is likely to be better than the first half,” he tells the newspaper.

Toyota remained the market leader in July despite sales falling 10.8% year-over-year to 20,112 units for a 33.2% market share. Isuzu followed, down 3.1% at 10,661 units, ahead of Honda, up 6.7% at 9,101.

The passenger segment was led by Toyota, up 6.4% at 7,842 units, with Honda up 17.0% at 6,829 and Mazda, up 4.1% at 2,333.

Toyota also paced the CV segment with deliveries down 19.1% to 12,270 units, ahead of Isuzu, down 3.1% at 10,661, and Ford, up 51.9% at 3,393.

The 1-ton pickup segment saw Toyota skid 20.6% to 11,494 units, Isuzu fall 4.6% to 9,502 and Ford jump 55.3% to 3,130.

After seven months, Toyota led the market, withstanding an 11.3% year-on-year decline to 129,190 units for a 30.1% market share. Isuzu was a distant second, up 3.3% at 82,953 units, ahead of Honda, down 0.4% at 63,053.

Honda continued to lead the car market with sales up 2.0% at 45,534 units, just ahead of Toyota, down 28.2% at 43,542, and Mazda, up 19.7% at 15,833 units.

The CV segment had Toyota up 0.7% from like-2015 to 85,648 units, Isuzu gaining 3.3% at 82,953, and Ford up 45.4% at 20,858.

Within the CV segment, Toyota led the 1-ton pickup market with deliveries up 2.9% at 81,172 units. Isuzu followed, also up 2.9% at 75,275 units, ahead of Mitsubishi, up 23.0% at 22,750.

Ford was the runaway leader within the non-Japanese contingent with July deliveries jumping 31.2% to 3,493 units for a 7-month total up 26.7% at 21,252. Chevrolet continued to struggle, down 2.5% to 986 units for a year-to-date total off 11.2% at 7,912.