Toyota bets on Thai demand for Lexus
Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Thailand is confident its luxury brand Lexus will continue to sell well this year and next despite the sluggish overall automotive market.
Executive vice-president Akito Tachibana said luxury car sales in Thailand had kept a continuously robust growth rate since 2010 when 7,813 vehicles were sold.
The overall luxury car market in 2015 is expected to increase to 23,500 vehicles, up by 9.1% from 21,539 units in 2014 which saw an increase of 7.3% from a year earlier.
The company reported yesterday Lexus sales for January to September amounted to 600 units, outperforming the 570 vehicles sold for the whole year in 2014.
“The growth rate of the luxury car segment is very stable, so Toyota aims to beef up its sales activities next year,” he said.
In 2003, Toyota announced its plans to push the Lexus brand in the Thai market and expected it to be the best-selling premium car model in Thailand by 2010.
As of September this year, its accumulated sales in Thailand totalled 7,024 vehicles, all imported from Japan.
At present, Lexus is fourth in the luxury car market ranking after Mercedes-Benz, BMW (including Mini) and Volvo.
The two German brands — MercedesBenz and BMW — dominate more than 90% of the luxury car market today.
Lexus has three showrooms and service centres in Bangkok and 10 service centres in the provinces.
In a related development, Toyota yesterday introduced the new Lexus RX, its fourth-generation sport-utility vehicle (SUV). There are two sizes of Lexus RX’s engine — 2 and 3.5 litre, including a 3.5-litre hybrid engine.
Prices for the latest Lexus RX SUV range from 3.99 to 7.6 million baht, based on the new excise tax, with delivery to customers starting next year.
Mr Tachibana said the Lexus RX had been the popular model for 14 years, accounting for 30% of 582,000 units sold over 80 countries in 2014.
For the overall domestic market, slow economic prospects and myriad risks have prompted Toyota Motor Thailand to cut its domestic sales target to 265,000 units this year, down from original projection of 330,000 made earlier the year.
The cut means the Japanese car maker’s sales will fall for three years in a row.
Toyota posted domestic sales of 327,027 vehicles last year, down by 26.6%.
However, the company still maintains its export target at 390,000 vehicles this year, down by 8.4% from a year earlier and marking a contraction for a third straight year.
Toyota’s exports are estimated to represent 32.5% of Thailand’s vehicle exports this year.