Cambodia 2016 Photo Reports: The cars of Phnom Penh

Toyota Hilux billboard in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – January 2016. 

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to visit the two main cities in Cambodia: the capital Phnom Penh as well as Siem Reap, an opportunity to share a new BSCB Photo Report with you. Let’s start with Phnom Penh, where I was met with a flood of previous generations Toyota Camry: a quick survey of 160 vehicles in the streets showed no less than 20% of the entire traffic in town.

Phnom Penh street scene – January 2016 
The Toyota Camry and Highlander are omnipresent in Phnom Penh.

Toyota Alphard in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – January 2016.

Toyota has a stranglehold on the used car market in Cambodia, with the first generation Highlander and 2nd gen RAV4 also extremely popular, but the list doesn’t stop there.

Toyota Tundra in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – January 2016

The first generation Lexus RX is also a favourite of grey-market used car importers in the country, as are the Toyota Prius II, Hilux, Alphard, Tacoma and Sienna as well as the Lexus LX. A big surprise was the appearance of a significant amount of current gen Tundra imported from the U.S…

Toyota dealership in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – January 2016 

Toyota also should top the new sales brands ranking – but not the models ranking as detailed in our previous Cambodia update – with the new generation Hilux (aka Hilux Revo) already relatively frequent in the capital city and monopolising the Phnom Penh Toyota dealership showroom space and sales people attention.

Toyota Avanza and Land Cruiser in Phnom Penh – January 2016

The all-new Avanza is also already starting to make its mark as well as the new gen Land Cruiser, signalling a good reactivity of the market as these two nameplates only launched a few months ago in their respective countries of origin: Indonesia and Japan.

Ford dealership in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – January 2016

The Ford Ranger justifies its Cambodia 2015 best-seller title by showing off a dozen new generations in the 24 hours I stayed in Phnom Penh, building on an evident heritage of previous generations of the nameplate. The Phnom Penh Ford dealership housed a sizeable stock of Ranger but also the Everest, Ecosport and current gen F-150 sold as new.

Foton dealership in Phnom Penh

Chinese manufacturers are already implanted en masse in Cambodia but their success has been limited so far, judging by their small amount within the current Phnom Penh car parc. I did spot a handful of FAW V5 taxis, MG3, MG6, Maxus V80, Great Wall Steed pickup and JMC Yusheng as well as the Foton LCV dealership pictured above and a Wuling dealership, but no Foton or Wuling in the streets.

Phnom Penh street scene

Kia is also popular with the Carnival and Bongo, as well as Mazda with its BT-50 pickup (estimated to rank #3 overall in 2015) and Mitsubishi with its Triton pickup – the local dealer had a very sizeable stock of the nameplate available. Other notable sightings in Phnom Penh include the Ram 2500 and Ford F-150 Raptor.

2 x Range Rovers in Phnom Penh – January 2016. 

Luxury brands are still a relative rarity in Phnom Penh even though I spotted two Jaguar Land Rover dealerships and one large BMW showroom. Range Rovers are exceptionally popular for their price though with multiple shining new examples spotted across town, including the Evoque.

Peugeot 406 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia – January 2016

Despite the country’s French heritage, there were hardly any French nameplates to be seen in the capital: in 24 hours, I spotted two Peugeot 406 (including the one pictured above) and one 405.

The next Cambodia stop is Siem Reap, to be published shortly.

The Phnom Penh Photo Report continues below with 10 additional photos.