Thailand - truck dominated market no more

Thailand is also known as the Detroit of the East, a moniker that was most probably first coined by Ford Motor Co.'s during the company's first wave of expansion there in the 90s. Thailand is the largest manufacturer of trucks outside the USA, plus the local landscape have always been synonymous with low rider pick-up trucks, alongside three-wheeler / converted kei-minivan tuk-tuk taxis. Malaysia, the other motor manufacturing hub in the region have always sold itself to investors by differentiating themselves as the largest passenger car market in the region. Around 65% of vehicles in the country are passenger cars. The tagline may not be relevant very much longer though.


The latest vehicle registration statistics point that the Thai motor industry might close the year with a bang, a record 800,000 cars sold. But the more interesting news is that as of November 2010, sales of passenger cars already surpassed pick-up trucks, albeit by a thin margin. Out of the 707,235 vehicles sold, 307,629 were passenger cars (43.5%) versus 305,715 pick-ups sold (43.2%). The trend in the short term suggest that Thailand is gradually shifting to become a passenger car dominated market, as Thais grow more affluent, increasing urbanization as well as the new government policies which favours manufacturing of light small passenger cars, compare to the previous policy of favouring pick-up body type vehicles and its derivatives; PPVs (passenger pick-up vehicles) or ladder frame SUVs to you and me.

Nissan's Teana also pulled ahead of Honda's Accord, making the King of Comfort as the current closest rival to the defacto market leader Toyota Camry.

Although between 65% to 70% of cars sold in Malaysia are passenger cars, out of these, only 30% of the market is realistically open for taking by foreign car markers. Close to 70% of the passenger cars sold here were made by domestic brands of Proton and Perodua. However it should also be noted that Proton outsold Kia, Hyundai and Ford in Thailand.

Thailand is a bustling developing market of 67.7 million people. Out of which more than 12 million live within the Bangkok and greater Bangkok area, whose size is slightly smaller than Klang Valley. In contrast, Klang Valley has about 7.2 million people. Now you know why the traffic jam is so terrible in Bangkok. However, I am of the opinion that they have a far more reliable train system, the Thai BTS (similar to LRT) and MRT rail line that actually gets you to more places that you need to go compared to our two LRT lines, and our completely hopeless KTM Komuter.

Vehicle sales figures via Bangkok Post Motoring. Unfortunately 2010 will also mark the end of Bangkok Post's Motoring pullout. From 2011 onwards, BP Motoring will be merged with their lifestyle section pullout. Of late, I noticed the content pages of BP Motoring have been reduced. Too bad. It's hard to find good quality English publication on the Thai motoring scene.