Thai-made cars make inroads into Singapore

Thai-made cars make inroads into Singapore

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Thai-made cars previously regarded as inferior to U.S., Japanese, European and South Korean exports are becoming popular in Singapore, with almost 5,000 sold in 2003, a media report said on Monday.

The sharp increase in sales of Thai-made cars from just 335 in 1997 to the current level outpaced the expansion in the overall car market, which trebled over the same period, the Straits Times reported.

Thailand is now the fourth largest car supplier here, exporting S$98.2 million Singapore (US$57.76 million) worth of cars in 2003, up from just S$5.9 million in 2002, when it was the 13th largest.

There are now six Thai-made cars sold here -- the Toyota Vios, Toyota Corolla Altis, Honda City, Honda Accord, Opel Zafira and Chevrolet Optra, up from just one in 1997, the entry-level Toyota Soluna.

There are no local car assembly operations in Singapore, a relatively small but lucrative and competitive market due to high car prices recturers, such as Mitsubishi and Nissan, are moving their plants to Thailand, which is known as the "Detroit of the East", to leverage on the trend, the newspaper said.

"The Corolla Altis is selling better than the Corolla from Japan," the newspaper quoted Choong as saying.

Japan is Singapore's top car supplier, accounting for 58 percent of the city-state's car imports in 2003, followed by Germany and South Korea.

Thailand is itself experiencing booming vehicle sales that are surpassing levels not seen since before the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

Toyota Motor expects domestic car and truck sales to expand 10.7 percent to reach 600,000 in 2004, making Thailand the biggest Southeast Asian vehicle market.