Sales of new vehicles in July reached the second-highest monthly mark for the year -43,156 units - despite returning the worst performance for the month since 2002.
Overall, sales in the first seven months of 2009 reached 274,584 units, down 25% compared to last year's mark of 366,247 vehicles.
Japanese makes now claim 92.6% of the Thai market, leaving American brands with 4.4%, European marques 1.5% and the Korean camp with 0.4% market share.
July's haul was only the fourth time this year that the market absorbed more than 40,000 units after setting a high of 43,402 vehicles at the halfway mark in June.
Passenger car sales slowed down 6.5%with 17,533 vehicles leaving showrooms nationwide when compared to June, but the pick-up segment came out strong with its first 20,000-unit monthly haul this year.
Toyota became the first brand in the first-tier group to eclipse 100,000 units after selling 18,393 vehicles last month.Both Isuzu and Honda posted gains of 1.8% and 7.1% respectively when compared to last year during the same period.
Second-tier brands were led by Mazda's sales of 816 units in July for 14.6% growth despite total sales still being down 17.4% when compared to last year.
John Ray, managing director of Mazda Sales (Thailand) said:"Our sales in July represents the highest growth rate, and the first positive growth in 15 months."
Nissan is the top second-tier brand with 2,760 vehicles sold last month and 5.4% market share. This month's sales campaigns consist of free one-year insurance,20% down-payment and interest rates ranging from 2.99 to 4.55% offered by its leasing arm.
Passenger cars
According to a sales report from Toyota Motor Thailand, last month's haul of 17,533 vehicles gave this segment its second-highest total for 2009.
Toyota (7,544) topped Honda (6,801)last month which gave both brands market shares of 43.2% and 39.3% respectively.
Toyota is down from its normal 50%
market share due to a stronger Honda presence facilitated by stronger product lineup.
Honda's design strategy incorporates larger exterior and interior dimensions at every product segment when compared to its mainstream rivals.
The Honda Jazz (1,055) had an 11.5%share of the subcompact segment and the Accord (391) has 22.3% in the midsize sector for the month of July. The Civic's year-to-date total of 14,524 leaves it with 38.1% share and is the best-selling compact in the market.
Despite being armed with the aging 3 compact, Mazda has one of the highest growth rates at 25.0% year-on-year on sales of 2,694 vehicles, thanks to low interest rates starting at 2.89%, and maintenance package for up to three years or 60,000 kilometers and one-year full coverage insurance.
Chevrolet broke its in-house threeyear sales record with the Chevrolet Optra CNG by shooting over the 1,000-unit mark in June-only sales.
"The total sales number of Chevrolet vehicles is extremely satisfying and proves that motorists still trust and have confidence in our brand," said Antonio Zara,vice president of sales, marketing and aftersales for Chevrolet Sales (Thailand),emphasising that in the second half of this year the focus will be on building upon the foundation created by the trust and confidence of its customers.
Total passenger cars sold was 113,589 vehicles, down 12.4% when compared to last year during the same period.
Pick-ups
Isuzu is still in front of Toyota by 0.8 percentage points or 1,008 pick-ups despite the latter selling 9,788 units to take July honours in the first-tier pick-up segment. Nissan is firmly in the lead among second-tier brands with sales of 10,235 units and 7.3% market share.
Indian pick-up Tata sold 95 units last month to bring its total to 516 for a growth of 670% over last year.
The overall segment is down 34.0%on sales of 126,030 units when compared to last year during the same period.
July's 20,220-unit haul was the first time the pick-up segment raked in sales above 20,000 units after opening the year with 14,540 units.
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