Bangkok Motor Show from 25 March to 3rd April

[dr dave soul monsta]

This weekend The Bangkok Motor show opens its doors at the BITEC center at Bangna junction bangkok


Asia’s second largest car show is expecting thousands of enthusiasts to pour into the Bangkok event today and lay out hundreds of millions of dollars on new wheels but experts warn high fuel costs could put the brakes on getting carried away.
The Bangkok International Motor Show, now in its 26th year, is a premier showcase for the car industry’s latest models.

Some 1.6 million people are expected to pass through the gates during the 10-day event.

Plenty of high luxury and horsepower will be on offer and Chavalit Soontrapook of event organiser Grand Prix International said he expected sales to match or exceed the 10 billion baht at the 2004 show, which proved a bumper year.

“Our strength this year will be in trying to persuade people to use less oil,” Chavalit said.

“There is strong competition heating up (at the show) for fuel-efficient cars.”

He said the market for economy pickup trucks, particularly from Japanese giants Toyota and Isuzu, was growing in Thailand, especially as the country grapples with record-high oil prices.

Thai business and consumers were asked this week to bite the bullet when the government raised diesel fuel prices by 20 per cent as it tries to wean the country off a massive fuel subsidy programme that has already cost the Government more than US$1.9 billion

Thailand freed up petrol prices last October.

Automotive Resources Asia, a market research consulting firm based here was predicting a more modest reaction to the show given the oil price crunch.

“In terms of performance or sales we could expect it to be slower than in years gone by,” ARA partner John Bonnell said on the eve of the event.

More importantly, perhaps, he said the show “will be a key barometer for how the rest of the year will play out, particularly in light of the fuel price situation”.

After a year in which Thailand’s car industry – the largest in South-East Asia – hit an all-time sales high of 626,026 vehicles, February sales fell 4.1 per cent year-on-year to 47,038 as consumers put the brakes on new passenger car purchases, said the industry’s compiler, Toyota Motor Thailand.

In January the industry had forecast 2005 could see a gain of 10 per cent to 690,000 units sold but Bonnell said that may now prove too optimistic
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