Overview of the 30th Thailand International Motor Expo

Inter-Media Consultant Co. President, Kwanchai Paphatphong, stated that the number of people that visited the 30th Thailand International Motor Expo was a little more than 14 percent lower than the number of people that were attracted to the same event back at the 29th Thailand International Motor Expo. Official reports that were confirmed and compiled after that event in 2012 showed that the attendance reached 1.6 million prospective buyers that were eagerly searching a potential opportunity to purchase a vehicle. The event this year, which started on November 28 and ended on December 10, was clearly not as popular as the event from last year because there was a definite decline in attendance that was apparently clear from the very beginning of the event.

The attendance numbers were not the only signs of decline either that were noticed, because even the number of cars that were brand new and added to the list of reserved cars was actually recorded as being 52 percent lower than back in 2012 when there were a little more than 85,900 units that were booked for that event. Keep in mind that the 46 billion baht cash that was generated directly from the annual event this time around officially marked a decrease of a little more than 39 percent when directly compared to the 76 billion baht worth of automobile sales that were generated back in 2012.

Mr. Kwanchai stated that purchases which were generated back in 2012 were actually boosted and encouraged by the first-time automobile buyer scheme that was enforced directly by the government which provided an abundance of subsidies to qualifying buyers.

One of the most popular car buying choices among the buyers that attended the event this year was Toyota which generated a whopping total of over nine thousand units that were all reserved directly at the show. Next in line came Honda which had close to 6,100 units, Nissan which generated a little more than 4,000 units in sales, Isuzu with a total of 3,753 units and Mitsubishi rounded out the list with a total of 3,689 units. The highest selling luxury car bran was Mercedes-Benz who was able to generate a total of 1,227 units that were sold during the event and almost doubled BMW’s sales of 763 units.

Over 50 percent of the purchases that were made equaled out to be a little more than 50 percent. SUVs were a little less than 27 percent and pickup trucks equaled out to being a little more than 14.5 percent. According to a statement that was made by Mr. Kwanchai, the average price of an individual vehicle increased to a sum total of 1.5 million baht in 2013. Keep in mind that the average price for an individual vehicle last year during the 2012 expo was about 800,000 million baht. Since the vast majority of the buyers from last year were interested in purchasing smaller cars in order to qualify for the first-time car buying scheme, this made perfect sense and makes it apparently clear why there was such a noticeable change at the event this year.