Grand Curtain Down for Motor Expo 2006

Mr. Kwanchai Paphatphong, Chairman of Inter-Media Consultant Co., Ltd. and Organizing Chairman of the “23rd THAILAND INTERNATIONAL MOTOR EXPO 2006”, concluded on December 11, revealed, “Total car sales in the MOTOR EXPO from November 29 to December 11, 2006 amounted to 17,106 units, which is 14% or 2,106 units more than we had predicted (and only 2% less than last year’s total of 17,128 units). The day of highest sales was December 10, with 2,519 units, followed by December 11 and 19, with sales of 2,434 and 2,100 units respectively. Best selling brand was TOYOTA, with 32.2% market share. The 9 runner-ups were No. 2): ISUZU, 3) HONDA, 4) MITSUBISHI, 5) CHEVROLET, 6) NISSAN, 7) FORD, 8) MAZDA, 9) GRAND CARRYBOY, and 10) KIA. Even SPYKER, the most expensive car in the EXPO, managed to sell one car.”

The Organizing Chairman confirmed that these sales figures had been validated through cross-checking with the buyers’ data submitted to the Organizer in the “Buy a Car, Win a Car” program. Also worth mentioning was the fact that the numbers of cars and pickup trucks sold this year were about equal (50:50), while the category that deserved a close watch was the SUV, the best selling of which this year was the CR-V, followed by the champion of last year, namely the FORTUNER.

Mr. Kwanchai added, “The car sales number was higher than predicted because many negative factors—politics, oil price, interest rate and floods in many regions that had influenced buyers to defer their spending—showed signs of improving and caused the buyers to switch decisions in the EXPO, no doubt drawn also by the various promotions of car companies”.

At the same time, participating traders of car audio and ancillary equipment confirmed that sales figures of this year were no less than last year. It can therefore be construed that the EXPO probably set off as much as 19,000 million Baht to circulate in the market, helping to boost the economy at year end.

The total number of visitors this year was 1,604,245 (as targeted) and bigger than last year. December 10 saw the largest number—222,523 persons.

Slogan for the “24th THAILAND INTERNATIONAL MOTOR EXPO 2007” would be exposed to the media on January 24, 2007 at Impact Challenger, Muang Thong Thani, concurrent with performing lucky draws for the “Buy a Car, Win a Car” and “Buy a Ticket, Win a Car” programs.

###

Should you require further information, please contact:
Ms. Pornchanok Saowamol, Public Relations,
Inter-Media Consultant Co., Ltd. Tel: 02-641-8444 ext. 405 Fax: 02-641-8480
Ms. Kanokwan Donsakun, Project Public Relations,
Professional Media Business Co., Ltd. Tel: 084-149-4943 Fax: 02-559-0683
E-mail: kanokwan_d@pmb.co.th