Thai August Vehicles Sales Soar

New-vehicle sales in Thailand soar 20.3% year-on-year to a record 79,043 units in August, as Japanese auto makers accelerated deliveries in a continuing recovery from the March natural disaster.

The passenger-car segment jumped 26.4% to 35,545 units last month, while commercial-vehicles’ climbed 15.7% to 43,498.

Triton helped Mitsubishi compact trucks post triple-digit sales increase.

In the year’s first eight months, sales were up 19.6% to 583,958 units. The car market surged 24.3% to 261,332, while the commercial segment rose 16.1% at 322,626.

Toyota Thailand, which collates sales data for the industry, says sales growth is being boosted by new models coming into the market and by increased consumer purchasing power resulting from rising agricultural prices, low unemployment and the expansion of credit to businesses and households.

On the downside, Toyota sees sales possibly impacted by the country’s once-in-100-years flooding, with a death toll of about 100 people.

“The flooding problem occurring in almost every province across the country could affect the car market,” Toyota Thailand Executive Vice President Wutthikorn Suriyachantanano says in a statement.

Toyota comfortably retained its title as sales leader in Thailand, with August deliveries rising 18.9% to 32,108 units for a 40.6% market share. Isuzu followed with 13,104, up 13.0% for a 16.6% share.

Toyota car sales soared 41.4% to 15,756 units for a 44.3% share. Honda was second, albeit down 23.3% to 6,990 for a 19.7% share, ahead of Nissan, up 62.4% to 4,254 and a 12.0% share.

The important 1-ton pickup-truck segment rose 14.8% to 37,309 units, with Toyota falling 1.8% to 14,328; Isuzu rising 14.1% to 12,194; and Mitsubishi spiking 132.1% to 5,973.

Through August, Toyota sales were up 9.3% to 216,404 units for a 37.1% share. Isuzu posted a 12.0% increase to 105,144 (18.0%) and Honda was off 15.5% to 60,879 units.

In the car segment, Toyota was up 24.3% to 104,914 units for 40.1% share, followed by Honda, down 13.6% to 56,778 (21.7%); and Nissan, up 84.8% to 32,265 (12.3%).

Sales of 1-ton pickup trucks for the first eight months increased 17.0% to 277,174 units. Toyota was down 1.2% to 100,187 (36.1%); Isuzu was up 10.1% to 96,161 (34.7%) and Mitsubishi jumped 131.6% to 41,508 (15.0%).

Mitsubishi Thailand, buoyed by an 8-month surge that doubled its deliveries compared with like-2010, raised its full-year sales target to 70,000. The auto maker, unaffected by the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, originally set a 55,000-unit target for this year but raised that to 62,000 in July.

Mitsubishi Vice President Atsushi Seino says in a statement he expects Thailand’s full-year, industry-wide sales to be between 900,000 and 910,000 units.

Chevrolet’s August deliveries jumped 94.1% year-on-year to 3,090 units, for an 8-month total up 73.4% to 21,026. Ford sales shot up 209.0% for the month to 2,676 units, bringing the auto maker’s sales through eight months to 20,514 for a 268.7% increase.