Thailand September 2015: Toyota Fortuner in unchartered territory

November 20, 2015
Matt Gasnier

The Toyota Fortuner commands a record 7.4% of the Thai market in October.

* See the Top 40 All-brands and Top 50 models by clicking on the title *

The crisis is not over for the Thai new car market: if October sales are almost identical to September at 61.869 units, they are another 10.5% below October 2014 (69.137), pulling the year-to-date total down 23% to 553.832 units. This means the Thai market has exactly halved in the space of two years: the 9 months 2013 total added up to 1.118.225 deliveries. Toyota increases its margin over Isuzu in the brands ranking thanks to sales down just 6% to 22.515 for a 36.4% market share vs. 34.2% year-to-date while Isuzu is down 12% to 10.642 and 17.2% vs. 18.4% so far in 2015. Mazda (#4) and Ford (#7) go against the grain with sales actually up 14% year-on-year this month, and they are not alone: Chevrolet is up 8%, Suzuki up 4% and BMW up 8%. As for Chinese manufacturer MG, it celebrates its first year in the Thai market by pushing its hatchback the MG3 inside the Top 30 best-selling nameplates for the first time at #27 with 457 units sold.

Thanks to the sedan variant, the Mazda2 reaches a new record in Thailand.

The Toyota Hilux maintains the lead in the models ranking but despite the new generation now in full gear the Isuzu D-Max is breathing hard on its neck this month at 8.697 sales vs. 9.024. The event of the month is the exceptional market share (7.4%) reached by the newly relaunched Toyota Fortuner in third position. Could an SUV finally threaten the pickup monopoly over the Top 2 ranks in Thailand? I doubt it. The Honda HR-V is back up one spot to a splendid 6th position, the Mazda2 can’t stop improving thanks to the sedan variant now available alongside the hatch: it hits a record 2.050 sales and 3.3% share at #8. Finally, the Ford Everest confirms it is a force to be reckoned with, gaining a further 3 spots on September to #15.

Ford Everest