Motor show organiser expects sales of 10,000 cars
The organisers of the Bangkok Motor Show this year will spend around Bt400 million to organise the annual event, which will be held from March 30 to April 8 at the Bitec exhibition centre.
Prachin Em-lamnao, chairman of Grand Prix International, said the event, set up to showcase the latest models of cars, would feature all auto companies that have a presence in Thailand, except for Porsche and Ferrari.He said the organisers would not calculate daily car sales this year because they did not want to place a high priority on sales targets. "We don't want to create a war among the sellers. We will sum up the figures at the end of the event," he said. Nonetheless, Prachin expected that the event should be able to sell more than 10,000 units this year. Car companies that will take part in the event include Toyota, Honda, GM, Mitsubishi and Ford. Originally, South Korea's Hyundai and Malaysia's Proton planned to join the event but they withdraw because they were not ready. The organisers were also waiting for confirmation from India's Tata pickup company, which plans to market products in Thailand later this year, to see if they will join the event. Meanwhile, a total of 150,672 motorcycles were sold in January alone. Honda vehicles accounted for 71 per cent or 106,229 units. Around 52 per cent of the motorcycles sold were family-type models. Theerapat Jiwapong, managing director of AP Honda, said that sales in the first quarter should continue to be active because of the introduction of new motorcycle models. This year, Honda will aim at promoting sales among teenage consumers by organising a series of campaigns.
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