In 2019, 1,007,552 new vehicles were registered in Thailand which is a year-on-year decline of 3.3%. The new car market in Thailand has been going downwards since last year. This year is going to be challenging according to Toyota. Though personally, Toyota managed to increase their market share to 33% concluding a 2.8% increase.
Michinobu Sugata, president-Toyota Motor Thailand, has said during a press conference that during the first half of the year, the market seemed prosperous and grew but there was a decline in the second half of the year, especially since September 2019. Thus, Toyota expects 2020 in Thailand to prove challenging though they were able to overcome the negative market last year.
But this year the overall automobile industry in Thailand will have to face this challenge and Toyota will also have to face a downfall. The company is not expecting to outperform the performance of the last year.
In 2019, Toyota’s exports slumped 10% due to weakness in its key export markets combined with the appreciation of the baht. Sugata said that Toyota is facing headwinds including the decreased level of consumer confidence and private consumption, tightening car loan schemes and the continuing uncertainty of the global economic trends. And to top this all, there is the trade war going on between the U.S. and China which will directly have a negative impact on Thailand’s trade too. But the pickup exporter market in Thailand is still booming. People are still able to find fully loaded Toyota Hilux from Thailand pickups exporter like Vigoasia.com.
Surasak Suthongwan, the executive vice president of Toyota, is looking at the Hilux and hoping for better future. He said that the Pickup is a key market and that the pickup market will provide a tailwind for Toyota.
