Toyota hopes vigo will put it back on top ranking

Although Toyota was the top-selling pickup brand in 2010, beating arch-rival Isuzu by about 10,000 units, in the first six months of this year it has been trailing behind Isuzu by more than 4,000 units.

"But with the new Vigo, we will surely regain the No 1 position," said Kyoichi Tanada, president of Toyota Motor Thailand (TMT).

According to Tanada, Toyota is not able to satisfy demands for Vigo because it also needs to split up production for export markets.

Only 45 per cent of the production is for the domestic market, while 55 per cent will be exported. However, Tanada said TMT was negotiating with the parent company to raise the domestic ratio to 50 per cent.

"We are also speeding up production at the Ban Pho plant [in Chachoengsao] by 40 per cent, but this will not be adequate. We plan to expand the plant further next year as well," he said.

The Vigo and Fortuner models are produced at the Ban Pho and Samrong plants with a combined capacity of more than 45,000 units per month, and exported to 113 countries.

Toyota and other major Japanese auto-makers were significantly affected by the disruption caused by the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March. In May, the company announced that normal production had been achieved sooner than expected. It said the disaster had resulted in a shortage of parts supplied from Japan, and that it had to cut production from April 25. But efforts, especially those made by the parts manufacturers, helped speed up deliveries sooner than expected. As a result, Toyota 's plants in Thailand (Samrong, Gateway and Ban Pho) were able to resume normal production as of May 23.

The Vigo is priced between Bt487,000 and Bt988,000, while the Fortuner goes for between Bt1.059 million and Bt1.501 million.