Vehicle Sales By Brand Thailand : 2014

All smiles at the launch, but the sales slump is unsettling

A few of things to note about the data. First, it is collated by Toyota Thailand and therefore participation is presumably voluntary. That means that it won't include every brand available, although it is surprisingly comprehensive. Second, when I started collecting data for Thailand, it was separated into passenger (saloon) cars and all vehicles. I have have stayed with that but as the definition for car is narrow, this list covers all vehicles including heavy commercial. Finally, certain brands get an advantage through avoiding import tariffs, which becomes obvious by the lopsided sales you see below.

Japanese car makers have a huge advantage having local car plants and benefiting accordingly. US makers have also invested in the region, but came in later. European brands are restricted by import duties and are no more than novelties.

For sales to fall 34% in 2014 was an amazing percentage for a large car market. Political unrest and the end of a tax break for first time vehicle buyers expiring has hit hard. Any government incentives can be counter productive once they finish, as it seems to be here. Indonesia now rivals Thailand as the biggest car market in South East Asia.

10	11	12	13	14	Make	2014	%	+/-
1	1	1	1	1	Toyota	326,457	37.0%	-27%
2	2	2	3	2	Isuzu	160,286	18.2%	-22%
3	3	3	2	3	Honda	106,482	12.1%	-50%
5	5	4	4	4	Mitsubishi	62,885	7.1%	-40%
4	4	5	5	5	Nissan	59,220	6.7%	-40%
8	8	8	8	6	Ford	38,087	4.3%	-26%
6	6	7	7	7	Mazda	34,326	3.9%	-35%
7	7	6	6	8	Chevrolet	25,799	2.9%	-54%
11	10	9	9	9	Suzuki	20,183	2.3%	-55%
9	9	10	10	10	Hino	11,740	1.3%	-38%
13	14	11	11	11	Mercedes	11,524	1.3%	13%
15	15	12	12	12	BMW	8,386	1.0%	10%
14	13	13	13	13	Hyundai	4,062	0.5%	-1%
17	16	16	15	14	Volvo	2,261	0.3%	-17%
28	29	28	16	15	Subaru	1,966	0.2%	-26%
21	17	17	17	16	DFM	1,845	0.2%	-4%
12	12	14	14	17	Tata	1,631	0.2%	-44%
20	21	18	18	18	Fuso	1,050	0.1%	-37%
22	19	19	19	19	Kia	702	0.1%	-23%
25	22	21	20	20	Lexus	570	0.1%	-25%
19	20	20	22	21	VW	476	0.1%	-20%
10	11	15	21	22	Proton	466	0.1%	-33%
27	25	23	23	23	Scania	419		-11%
-	-	-	-	24	MG	204
24	23	22	24	25	WuLing	184		-50%
34	35	29		26	Land Rover	135
26	26	25	25	27	Ssangyong	113		-40%
30	28	26	26	28	Peugeot	98		-42%
41	33	33		29	Jaguar	36
33	27	27	27	30	Citroen	32		-48%
48	45	42	35	30	Maserati	32		129%
42	42	38	31	30	Ferrari	32		39%
					Other	143
					Total	881,832		-34%

Data source: Toyota Thailand.