Thailand edges Japan as Australia’s top source of vehicles
Thailand was the number-one source of new vehicles sold in Australia in July, reflecting the continuation of the ute boom.
According to VFACTS data released this week, 23,803 of the vehicles sold last month (out of the overall monthly total of 91,331) were made in the southern Asian nation with which we have a free-trade agreement. This was up 26 per cent on last year.
This made it the main source of vehicles ahead of the usual leader, Japan (23,359 for the month), which fell 11 per cent over the corresponding period, as well as Korea (12,782, up 16 per cent), Germany (6598, down 10 per cent) and the US (4139, down 9 per cent).
The number of Australian-made cars totalled 6945.
The majority of the nearly 24,000 Thai-made vehicle sold here in July were utes, comprising staples such as the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton, Holden Colorado, Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50 and Nissan Navara. Of the big-sellers, only the Volkswagen Amarok (Argentina) isn’t made there.
Ute sales in July totalled 14,755, making it the second-most popular vehicle segment after small cars (16,787), with a market share of 16.2 per cent.
In addition, SUV derivatives such as the Ford Everest, Toyota Fortuner, Isuzu MU-X, Holden Colorado 7 and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport are all Thai, as are passenger cars such as the Honda Civic, City, CR-V, HR-V and Jazz, Mitsubishi Mirage, Ford Fiesta and Suzuki Celerio, among others.
Year-to-date, Japan still tops the list however, with 190,305 compared to 165,813 for Thailand.
New vehicle sales by country of origin, July 2016
- Thailand — 23,803
- Japan — 23,359
- Korea — 12,782
- Australia — 6945
- Germany — 6598
- USA — 4139
- England — 3019
- Spain — 1489
- South Africa — 1140
- Czech Republic — 798
- Hungary — 787
- France — 632
- India — 609
- Slovak Republic — 590
- Belgium — 438
- Finland — 419
- Argentina — 379
- Italy — 306
- Poland — 294
- Turkey — 272
- China — 237
- Sweden — 222
- Mexico — 193
- Austria — 44
- Portugal — 42
- Indonesia — 33
- Malaysia — 10