Vehicle sales down 0.8 per cent last year in flood-hit Thailand

Jan 17, 2012, 10:15 GMT

Bangkok - Vehicle sales fell 0.8 per cent last year in Thailand, where manufacturing was stalled by natural disasters in both the kingdom and Japan, industry sources said Tuesday.

A total of 794,081 passenger cars and commercial vehicles were sold in Thailand in 2011, down 0.8 per cent year-on-year, Toyota Motor Thailand President Kyoichi Tanada said.

Toyota models accounted for about 36 per cent of the domestic market. Last year, Toyota sold 290,061 vehicles, down 11.0 per cent.

'Last year's automobile market has struggled against devastating natural disasters including the tsunami in Japan and the major flood in Thailand, which affected the company's domestic production,' Tanada said.

Toyota's global production in 2011 was adversely affected by the two natural disasters that interrupted automobile assembly and parts manufacturing in the two vital production hubs - eastern Japan and Thailand.

Although Toyota did not have factories in the two Thai provinces hardest hit by massive flooding in October and November - Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani - the disaster nonetheless interrupted the supply of parts to Toyota factories based in Chachoengsao province, on Thailand's eastern seaboard.

Despite the catastrophe, Toyota Motor Corp presdient Akio Toyoda in November vowed not to 'abandon Thailand,' by shifting it production elsewhere.

In October, this year, Toyota will celebrate its 50th year of operations in Thailand, which include two existing manufacturing plants, with a third one planned.

Investment in a new factory in Chachoengsao province was estimated at 8.2 billion baht (264 million dollars).

Tanada predicted that vehicle sales in Thailand will reach 1.1 million units, a 38 per cent increase, in 2012.