The Bangkok International Motor Show is a good indicator as to the health of the motor industry in Thailand, and local sales in particular. Unfortunately, despite everything the Motor Show had to offer, bookings went down by 12 percent, which is the fourth consecutive year of diminishing numbers.
Top five brands in the mass market were Honda (4,308), Toyota (4,013), Nissan (3,586), Mazda (3,557) and Mitsubishi (3,549).
Luxury sales were a runaway for Mercedes (1,700) against BMW (1,107).
Many reasons have been put forward for the decline, with the principal being the new excise tax which has increased prices by 5 percent, followed by a tightening on finance for car loans, with NPLs up from previous and worrying figures on household debt showing that there will be more defaulters than before.
The new tax is based on compatibility with E85 petrol, CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency. Whilst these are all noble sentiments, one wonders at the decision to implement the tax right now, with the plunging economy.
With the new tax that came in on January 1, there was a spurt in sales in December 2015, with 100,000 units sold, but sales plunged again in January and February of this year to be around half of the December figures.
