Eco-cars lead the way as Motor Show sees good sales

Event organiser Prachin Eamlumnow yesterday said this year’s orders had exceeded the target of 40,000 units and last year’s total of 35,000 vehicles.
Between 20 and 30 per cent of the orders taken were for eco-cars.
Toyota topped the list with 12,694 orders, followed by Honda with 7,539, Mitsubishi with 6,406, Nissan with 5,479 and Isuzu with 5,007. Most carmakers received orders above their original targets.
Prachin put the sharp rise in activity down to the fact that many people had postponed their purchases following the severe floods late in the year, which had also affected auto production and the supply chain.
The highlight of the show this year was the high level of eco-car sales, as such vehicles meet people’s concerns over rising fuel prices.
Pickups were also in high demand, as many people seek to guard against a repeat of last year’s flooding.
Another hot sales category was imported luxury cars. There were eight sales of Rolls-Royces worth between Bt20 million and Bt37 million each and three orders for Lamborghinis worth more than Bt30 million apiece, while Porsche made 10 sales. The event, which ran from March 28 at the Challenger Hall, Muang Thong Thani, attracted more than 1.9 million visitors.
The 12-day fair will be held at the same venue next year, when the available space will be expanded by 20,000 square metres to 80,000 square metres.
Next year’s event will also showcase electric cars as well as commercial trucks, Prachin said.
Mazda Sales (Thailand) managing director Choichi Yuki said the company had clinched 4,117 orders at the show, well above its target of 3,000, suggesting that small cars are on a rising trend in Thailand. Sixty per cent of the orders taken were for Mazda2.
The company expects to deliver all the ordered vehicles within three to four months.
Nissan Motor Thailand senior vice president for marketing and sales Prapat Cheoychom said the company had taken around 5,500 orders, against the target of 4,000. It expects to complete deliveries within two or three months.
Mercedes-Benz (Thailand) president and CEO Alexander Paufler said the company had witnessed orders of 1,271 cars, versus a target of about 1,000 units and last year’s Motor Show performance of 900 orders.
Hot items were the C-Class, E-Class, |M-Class and B-Class models, he said.