Toyota: Car market to suffer more in Thailand 2009

Thailand’s auto market in 2008 showed the annualised drop in sale for the first time in 11 years, and the outlook is expected to be weaken as 2009 sale figures are revised downward to 520,000 units.

Mitsuhiro Sonoda, president of Toyota Motor Thailand, said at a press conference on Wednesday that in 2008, only 625,270 units were sold, or a 2.5 per cent drop from the previous year. Based on the 520,000 target for 2009, the figures represent a further 15.4 per cent decline.

He expected Toyota to sell 221,000 vehicles this year, an annualised drop of 15.7 per cent. As the company’s sales fall deeper than the industry’s, the company’s total market share would be 42.5 per cent, from 42.6 per cent in 2008.

In 2008, Toyota sold 262,209 vehicles, down 7 per cent from the previous year. Of total, passenger cars totalled 106,853, up 15.5 per cent on year, accounting for 47.1 per cent of the segment. The number of one-tonne pickup trucks reached 141,249 units, down 18.4 per cent, and Toyota saw its market share down to 42.3 per cent. Others are commercial vehicles.

source: nationmultimedia.com