Honda Thailand Car-Sales Surge Powers Record April

Honda surges past Toyota in April car sales in Thailand, as the overall market climbed 24.9% to a record 109,673 units and raised the 4-month total a best-ever 42.4% to 522,929.

Data from Toyota, which collates sales for the local industry, shows total car deliveries rising 22.9% to 47,511 units last month. Commercial vehicles gained 26.5% to 62,162, including the 1-ton pickup segment, growing 25.5% to 52,909.

Toyota led the light-vehicle market in April with sales up 16.2% to 36,012 units, ahead of Isuzu, improving 58.8% to 21,314 but chased by Honda, up 62.6% to 20,202.

Honda took a commanding lead in car sales in April, spiking 52.8% to 18,758 units for a 39.5% market share. Traditional segment leader Toyota saw a 12.3% decline to 12,230, still comfortably ahead of Nissan, down 23.6% to 3,432.

Honda Thailand Executive Vice President Pitak Pruittisarikorn credits the April result to recovery from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and flooding that shut down the auto maker’s Thailand plant later that year. Honda also enjoyed ongoing deliveries to participants in last year’s government tax-refund program for first-time car buyers.

Honda had six models eligible for the rebate program: the Brio, Brio Amaze, City, City (compressed-natural-gas-powered) CNG, Jazz (Fit) and Jazz Hybrid.

“We are confident that we will achieve our annual sales target of more than 200,000 units as planned,” Pitak says in a statement.

Releasing the data, Toyota Thailand Senior Vice President Wutthikorn Suriyachantanano says the market likely will maintain its momentum this month thanks to continued deliveries to first-time buyers, the popularity of new models and auto makers’ promotional activities.

Toyota continued to lead the commercial-vehicle segment with April sales gaining 42.9% to 21,836 units, but Isuzu narrowed the gap, jumping 60.4% to 19,451. Mitsubishi was a distant third, declining 32.4% to 4,445.

Toyota still topped year-to-date light-vehicle deliveries on the strength of a 5.9% increase 161,234 units, while Honda sales soared 509.5% to 92,404, pushing Isuzu into third place despite a 33.1% gain to 84,071.

Honda claimed a 32.4% share of the car market year-to-date with sales surging 444.5% to 80,987 units, ahead of Toyota, up 1.6% to 66,165, and Nissan, climbing 42.0% to 36,479.

Toyota led the year-to-date CV segment, up 9.2% to 95,069 units, ahead of Isuzu, jumping 33.1% to 84,071 and Mitsubishi, down 14.7% to 25,217.

Toyota also remained atop the 1-ton pickup segment after four months with deliveries up 9.7% to 88,120 units, but Isuzu was closing, up 30.3% to 75,733. Mitsubishi followed, down 14.7% to 25,217.

Chevrolet Thailand saw April sales slip 15.1% to 4,617 units, leaving the 4-month result up 6.4% to 22,071. Despite last month’s drop in a soaring market, the auto maker calls the result a “firm indication” its products are meeting customer expectations across various market segments.

Leading sales in April was the Colorado pickup with 1,856 units and the Sonic small car with 1,233.

Chevrolet says bookings for the newly launched Spin subcompact MPV and Cruze E85 flex-fuel compact sedan continued to be encouraging. Deliveries of the updated Cruze are expected to start this month, followed by the Spin in June.

Ford Thailand posted a record April result as its sales soared 61.6% to 4,120 units, with the all-new Ranger pickup up 56% to 1,800, driven by exceptional demand for manual-transmission variants. Year-to-date Ranger deliveries were ahead 94% to 8,524.

Ford Thailand Managing Director Yukontorn Wisadkosin says April sales of the all-new Focus were up almost 5-fold from year-ago from the previous-generation Focus to 641 units. Year-to-date, Focus deliveries spiked 214% to 2,278.

April sales of the Fiesta subcompact improved 32% from like-2012 to 1,586 units for a 4-month result up 11% to 7,948.

Ford continues expanding its nationwide dealer network, aiming for 140 locations by year’s end.