Motor Expo sets new records

"This year’s show was a great success as expected, and there were 1,650,124 visitors, an increase of 25.6 per cent over last year," Kwanchai Paphatphong, chairman of Inter Media Consultants, the organiser of the event, said yesterday.

Three-quarters of the orders were made to take advantage of the excise-tax rebate of up to Bt100,000, depending on the model, under the first-car-buyer programme.

Passenger cars accounted for 74 per cent of all orders, followed by 1-tonne pickup trucks with 14 per cent and other types of vehicles with 12 per cent. The most popular models were the Honda City, Suzuki Swift and Nissan Almera.

About Bt76 billion was circulated during the annual show of cars, motorcycles and accessories.

About 50,000 orders had been estimated for new automobiles, but actual demand turned out stronger than that. Besides setting numerous sales records this year, Japanese auto-maker Honda also beat the Motor Expo’s perennial champion Toyota for the first time. Honda’s booth, which highlighted the recently launched Brio Amaze eco-car, took 19,299 bookings versus Toyota’s 18,878 orders.

Nissan, banking heavily on its eco-cars – the March and Almera – came in third with 8,819 orders, followed by pickup specialist Isuzu with 6,448 orders.

Mazda was fifth with 6,155 orders and continues to enjoy dramatic growth in the market this year.

Large motorcycles were also a hit, with 1,805 units sold. Kawasaki led with 498, followed by Honda with 431 orders and Suzuki with 319.