Chery launches two models at Bangkok show

China's Chery Automobile on Wednesday used the annual Bangkok International Motor Show to launch two new passenger car models on the Thai market, despite a gloomy outlook for automobile sales this year. "We hope to sell about 4,000 to 5,000 units this year, capturing about 1 per cent of the Thai market," said Vithit Leenutaphong, president of the Thai Chery Yarnyon Company, the local distributor of Chinese-made Chery models.

Chery, the fourth-ranking automobile manufacturer on the huge China market, is a newcomer to Thailand, the main carmaking hub in South-East Asia.

Local distributor Thai Chery Yarnyon used the Bangkok motor show to launch the Chery QQ model, a 1,100-cubic-centimetre engine passenger car selling for about 400,000 baht (11,111 dollars) and the Tigo, a 2,000-cubic-centimetre engine car selling for about 800,000 baht.

The modest price is deemed to be Chery's chief selling point in Thailand, which is likely to experience a 20-per-cent drop in vehicle sales this year compared with the 650,000 units sold in 2008.

Thailand's economy is expected to contract at least 3 per cent this year, with as many as two million people joining the ranks of the unemployed.

"Nowadays customers are looking for good value," Vithit said. "We think the Thai market will appreciate both our prices and our quality." Both Chery models are imported from China.

Thai Yarnyon Group, the major shareholder in Thai Chery Yarnyon, is trying to persuade the China-based Chery Automobile to shift its production of right-hand drive vehicles to Thailand.

"If they manufacture here we can sell on the domestic market and export to Australia, South Africa and England," Vithit said.

Thailand has earned a reputation as the "Detroit of the East" for attracting at least 15 carmakers to the kingdom, including all the major Japanese brands, Germany's Mercedes-Benz and BMW and US carmakers General Motors and Ford.

An estimated 1.2 million vehicles were assembled and partially manufactured in Thailand last year, but production is expected to fall considerably this year as the export market crashes.

Thailand is the world's second-largest exporter of 1-ton pickup trucks after the US.