Mr. Kwanchai Paphatphong, Chairman of Inter-Media Consultant Co., Ltd. and Organizing Chairman of the “24th THAILAND INTERNATIONAL MOTOR EXPO 2007” at Muang Thong Thani, commented about the car bookings in the Motor Expo, “The bookings evidently are indicative of the state of economy of Thailand when consumers made bookings for new car models in the Motor Expo and the total bookings of 17,605 cars were 2.9% higher than in 2006, while Toyota, even without a new model debuting in the Expo, still attracted as many as 5,074 bookings by consumers”.
The ranking of car bookings by make are as follows. Number one is Toyota with 5,074 units or 28.8% share in the Expo. Number two is Isuzu with 2,522 bookings or 14.5%. Number three is Honda with 2,125 units or 12.1%. Number four is Chevrolet with 1,889 units or 10.7%. Number five is Mitsubishi with 1,220 units or 6.9%.
Number six is Proton with 1,058 units or 6.0% share. Number seven is Nissan with 1,000 units or 5.7%. Number eight is Mazda with 765 units or 4.3%. Number nine is Ford with 477 units or 2.7%. And number ten is Hyundai with 389 units or 2.2%.
From chatting with car companies taking large orders we found that Honda, which came third in the ranking, got most of their orders, i.e. over 700 units, for the new Honda Accord even though the cars were neither in the showroom nor available yet but were offered for booking in the Motor Expo for the first time.
Chevrolet was very successful with its AVEO bookings.
Mitsubishi attracted considerable attention from visitors with its new Mitsubishi Space Wagon and Mitsubishi Triton PLUS, “Pearl White Edition”.
The new player here—Proton from Malaysia—managed to achieve 1,058 bookings with its first appearance in the Motor Expo. Proton cars attracted so much interest from buyers, who took turns to test drive the cars in the driving test ground provided, that the sales staff could hardly find time to take a break.
From South Korea, Hyundai was successful also. Though outnumbered by bookings for the Sonata, the all-new business van H-1 attracted just as keen interest from clients.
Turning to pre-owned cars that were marketed by 5 companies in the Expo, total bookings were 434 units. Toyota came first with bookings of 193 cars or 44.5%. BMW came second with 169 units or 38.9% share while Chevrolet came third with 48 bookings or 11.1%.
As for car accessories, the category that drew most interest was the car satellite guidance system or GPS.
Should you require further information, please contact: Ms. Pornchanok Saowamol,
Public Relations, Inter-Media Consultant Co., Ltd. Tel: 02-641-8444 ext. 405 Fax: 02-641-8480
Mr. Waseenat Sookthis, Project Public Relations, Professional Media Business Co., Ltd.
Tel: 089-457-0567 Fax: 02-934-6720-
