Thai Market Stumbles Out of the Gate

Thailand’s auto industry started the year with another drop, falling 13.2% to 51,821 units, and the top manufacturer says the outlook remains subdued.

Releasing the data, Toyota Thailand Executive Vice President Vudhigorn Suriyachantananont says little is expected to change in February despite government stimulus measures that include speeding up the disbursement of funds to promote private investment.

Vudhigorn says lingering concerns about global economic volatility will put pressure on private investment. The market also is being affected by a slow recovery in the domestic economy, as well as low agricultural product prices.

Other factors include the new excise tax structure effective Jan. 1 that saw buyers rush to get new vehicles before the end of 2015.

Toyota, which collates national sales data for the Thai industry, says passenger-vehicle sales dived 30% in January to 16,384 units. Commercial-vehicle deliveries eased 2.4% to 35,437. Within this, sales of 1-ton pickup trucks rose 0.9% to 29,000.

Toyota led the Thai market in January with sales down 31.1% at 13,843 units, but Isuzu narrowed the lead, off just 1.4% to 11,044, with Honda down 44.4% at 5,613.

The passenger-vehicle segment saw Toyota dethroned for the moment with Honda leading the way, down 44% to 4,304 units, well ahead of Toyota, off 58.6% at 3,494. Mazda moved up 38% to 2,390 units for third place.

Isuzu’s 11,044 units moved it to the top of the CV segment, ahead of Toyota, down 11.2% at 10,349. Mitsubishi was third, up 35.7% to 3,588.

Isuzu also topped the 1-ton segment within the CV chart, with sales down 2.4% to 10,098 units. Toyota followed, down 10.1% at 9,673, ahead of Mitsubishi, up 35.7% to 3,588.

Ford Thailand began the year at the top of the non-Japanese contingent with sales up 30.1% at 2,574 units, ahead of Chevrolet, down 13.2% at 1,142 units.

Meantime, Honda Thailand says it bucked a downward trend in Thailand with the value of its vehicle exports soaring 19% in 2015 to TB83.1 billion ($2.32 billion).

It says in a statement the growth largely was attributed to an increasing demand of the City model in Mexico and HR-V model in Australia.

Honda’s CBU exports rose 44% in value to TB37.9 billion ($1.06 billion). The City, HR-V, and CR-V were top export models, accounting for about 70% of the total.

Honda Chief Operating Officer Pitak Pruittisarikorn says Honda plans to start operations at its new plant in Prachinburi this year.