Thailand: Auto sales to rise 7.4% to another record, Toyota predicts

The Nation - Toyota expects the auto market to race ahead by 7.4 per cent to a new sales record of 860,000 units this year.

"According to the sales volume reported earlier, it implies that the improving economic situation will lead to higher consumer confidence, and this directly benefits the automobile market," Kyoichi Tanada, president of Toyota Motor Thailand, the country's largest carmaker, said yesterday.

Sales of new passenger cars are expected to climb 11.1 per cent to 385,200 units, while commercial-vehicle sales rise 4.6 per cent to 474,800 units, of which 375,000, up 7.9 per cent, will be pickups.

Last year the auto market surged 45.8 per cent to an unprecedented 800,357 units, with the largest gain in passenger cars, rising by 50.7 per cent thanks to the increased popularity of small and fuel-efficient city cars. Pickup trucks jumped 42.3 per cent.
The previous sales record was set in 2005 when sales reached 703,432 units.

"This increase resulted from the continuous growth of the overall economy and the inflow of capital, which helped boost the auto-leasing industry. Growth also came from the rising demand in the passenger-car market and the launch of many new models," Tanada told Toyota's annual press conference.

Toyota was the best-selling brand with a record 326,007 units, comprising 141,733 passenger cars and 164,794 pickup trucks, he said. The company has dominated the auto market with triple crowns in the passenger-car, commercial and pickup-truck markets for the sixth straight year.

Several factors will enable growth in 2011, he said.

Toyota plans to sell 360,000 vehicles in the domestic market this year, 10.4 per cent more than in 2010, and hopes to achieve a 41.9-per-cent market share.

"We plan to sell 162,000 passenger cars, up 14.2 per cent, and 198,000 commercial vehicles, up 7.4 per cent, including 158,000 pickups, up 9.6 per cent," he said.

"For the export market, we plan to export about 364,000 CBU [completely built-up] vehicles worth Bt139 billion, and Bt59 billion worth of OEM [original equipment manufacturer] parts. Combined, our total export value for 2011 will be Bt198.9 billion, up 5 per cent from 2010," he said.

Toyota plans to boost production capacity to match domestic and export demand. The company has said it will invest Bt8 billion over several years to expand its Ban Pho plant in Chachoengsao province from 140,000 units per year to 220,000 units per year. The project will start in September.