Subaru eyes high potential in Thailand
Thailand is seen as one of the brightest "new" Asean markets for Subaru, alongside Malaysia and Indonesia, as the auto-maker aims to strengthen its brand image and build up its marketing effort over the next few years.
Glenn Tan, executive director of Tan Chong International – a distributor for |Motor Image, which is the exclusive |overall Subaru distributor in Asia – said he foresees Thailand as a very strong Asean market for Subaru due to its impressive economic expansion and relatively high purchasing power.
The Japanese carmaker plans to in-|troduce its new BRZ sports car and XV crossover vehicle (European specification) to the Thai market in the final quarter of this year.
The company intends to promote the popularity of the Subaru brand image and expand its network and the number of dealers to serve Thai customers, he said.
“As the Thai market is quite big and there is high purchasing power for luxury cars, I am confident that Subaru will be a success story in the country, as well as in other countries in Asia,” Tan said.
Under the company’s plan to promote Thai sales, 10 to 15 new dealers are to be added this year, against the current five.
The company projects sales of 300-400 completely built-up (CBU) and completely knocked-down (CKD) Subarus this year. It aims to sell 2,000 CKD and 1,000 CBU units in the Kingdom next year.
Tan said that after launching more new products in Thailand, the company would closely assess the development of the |market.
One option is to build a new plant for manufacturing passenger cars here. Malaysia is already a production base for the Subaru XV. Motor Image launched the BRZ, a unique rear-wheel-drive sports car featuring the horizontally opposed Boxer engine, in Singapore on April 4.
Designed from the ground up and developed as a joint project between Subaru and Toyota, the company says the BRZ “brings to the world a pure sports car with superior steering response and driving pleasure”.
Available in a range of seven colours, |the BRZ will be priced at not less than Bt2 million.
With an inherently low centre of gravity, the carmaker says the BRZ is capable of delivering a new level of handling precision. This has been achieved by carefully integrating every single element of the car, which includes the streamlined exterior design, roofline, seat positioning and the flat and horizontally opposed engine design.
The BRZ’s lightweight and highly rigid body is built with high-tensile steel to reduce weight, while making the chassis solid and precise. It also features an advanced electronic system, vehicle stability control, which monitors braking, steering and cornering to help drivers maintain control as they push the BRZ to its limits.
The shape of the car has been specifically designed to optimise airflow and aerodynamic performance, yet retaining an elegant and stylish look.
Creature comforts of the BRZ include keyless access with push-button start, dual-zone automatic air-conditioning and paddle shifters.
