Toyota Motor Thailand (TMT) eyes positive growth of the Thai automotive market in 2017, the 55th year anniversary of operations in this country, while reaffirming its ongoing commitment to contributing to Thailand’s national economic sustainability through the development of its automotive industry.
During the company’s Mid-Year Press Conference held today, Michinobu Sugata, Managing Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and President of Toyota Motor Thailand Company Limited (TMT) highlighted the sales forecast for the entire Thai automotive industry in 2017 to potentially reach 830,000 units, an 8% rise from 2016. Furthermore, Mr. Sugata explained that overall sales in the Thai market during the first half of the year amounted to 409,980 units, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 11.2%. During this period, Toyota sales increased by 3.1% to 112,488 units.
Mr. Sugata expressed his gratitude to the Thai government for its support on the measurement to stimulate national economic growth, as well as to the Thai automotive industry. Additionally, he noted that the Thai automotive market has continued its recovery trend from 2016 into the first half of 2017.
| Units | Growth | Market Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passenger cars | 45,167 | +26.5% | 28.0% |
| Commercial vehicles | 67,321 | -8.3% | 27.1% |
| Total | 112,488 | +3.1% | 27.4% |
Mr. Sugata commented that automotive sales in Thailand for the second half of 2017 has become more favorable due to sustained GDP growth, continued government spending to stimulate investments from the private sector, positive consumer confidence, and the introduction of new models by various automakers in the market. These factors are reassuring to Toyota, which will retain its sales forecast for the whole year 2017 at 265,000 units, an 8% increase from last year. Toyota will strengthen its product line-up during the second half of this year to catch up with market growth.
| Units | Market Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Passenger cars | 110,000 | 32.4% |
| Commercial vehicles | 155,000 | 31.6% |
| Total | 265,000 | 31.9% |
Mr. Sugata reiterated Toyota’s ongoing commitment to contributing to the development of the Thai automotive industry and national economic sustainability by mentioning the following: “Once again, we would like to express our gratitude to the Thai government for its strong support of the automotive industry. In line with the government’s endeavors, we also aim to continue contributing to Thai society and responding to the government’s “Thailand 4.0″ and Eastern Economic Corridor policies. In the interest of human resource development for upcoming generations of workers in the industry, Toyota will continue to support the professional development of Thai engineers in the area of R&D through Toyota-Daihatsu Engineering & Manufacturing (focusing on compact car development for emerging markets) and will expand industry-academic partnerships. In addition to our efforts to bring happiness to Thai society through our products and services, we will continue developing our products to respond to the demands of customers.”
