BMW claims No.1 in Thai luxury car mart

BMW claims No.1 in Thai luxury car mart

BANGKOK (DPA): Despite forecasts that the Thai economy is heading for a slowdown this year, BMW executives claimed on Friday that its sales had increased 40 per cent in the first quarter of 2001, clinching its position as No 1 in the luxury car market.

"In the first quarter of 2001, BMW has delivered more than 750 cars, which means an increase of almost 40 per cent compared to last year," said Karsten Engel, President of BMW (Thailand) Company.

BMW was the best selling luxury car on the Thai market in 2000, when it sold 2,415 units compared with second-runner up Benz's 2,368 units.

Engel on Friday announced five new BMW models for the Thai market at the Bangkok International Motor Show.

While most dealers doubt that Thailand's demand for automobiles will hit the industry target of 286,000 units this year, an increase of 10 per cent compared with 2000's 262,189 units sold, Engel claimed that BMW would outperform the market.

"We don't know what the market will do but whatever is does we expect to do proportionately better because of our new models and aggressive marketing," Engel told a press conference.

BMW has invested US$25 million in an assembly plant in Rayong province in Thailand, and plans to increase its local parts content in locally-assembled vehicles from 25 per cent to 40 per cent this year.

It will also increase investments in its Thai factory within the next two years if the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) materializes.

AFTA, which promises to reduce tariffs on all automobiles produced in Southeast Asia to almost 2 per cent by the year 2006, has suffered a setback with Malaysia's decision to postpone the entry of its automobile sector into the scheme.

General Motors, which has invested about $500 million in an assembly plant for Zafira model vans in Thailand, has been similarly miffed by Malaysia's stalling on opening its automobile market.

"We would not have invested in Thailand, at a time of great economic uncertainty, if we had not believed that there were opportunities for us to export inside the ASEAN area," William Botwick, president of General Motors (Thailand), told the Automotive News Industry (ANI) Asia Pacific Congress in Bangkok on Wednesday.