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Toyota says exports may drop this year due to global unrest(Bangkok Post (Thailand) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 8--Toyota Motor Thailand Co says its automobile export outlook this year is less healthy than in the previous year as the economy overseas has not yet picked up due to global political unrest. "In particular, the Asean market, where sedans are Toyota's key market, is still suffering from a poor economy," president Mitsuhiro Sonoda said yesterday. The company's exports to the Middle East will also face problems as unrest in Iraq and Iran persists. Mr Sonoda said the export market for Toyota was expected to shrink by 2 percent this year from total exports of 190,000 units in 2006, up from 140,000 units in 2005. Domestically, Mr Sonoda said, the company was still confident that the entire automobile industry would sell 700,000 units as earlier projected. Demand for automobiles remains constant, especially among consumers who want to buy their first vehicles, he said. Negative factors that the industry experienced last year have begun to ease. Fuel prices are seen as more stable and interest rates are lower. However, demand in January and February this year seemed to dwindle because consumers rushed to buy in the late months of last year. That consequently brought down sales in the beginning of this year, Mr Sonoda said. "Political factors still make consumers reluctant to buy new vehicles," he said. Toyota yesterday introduced its all-new Vios, the third generation of the small sedan that it originated in Thailand. Mr Sonoda said the new Vios was designed to meet a global standard that would attract all customers in terms of its appealing design, higher performance and advanced safety features and technology. The new Vios, which is still powered by a 1.5-litre engine, offers both manual and automatic transmissions with retail prices ranging from 509,000 to 699,000 baht, said senior vice-president Wichien Emprasertsuk. "Prices of the new Vios are a little bit more expensive than the previous models by 2-4 percent, but when taking into account the new specifications and options offered, the prices of the new models are not much different," he said. Toyota hopes to sell 4,000 units per month of the new Vios in the local market, but expects to receive 7,000 orders during the introductory period. Exports are also planned, first within Asean. Toyota will ship fully assembled Vios cars to Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei at an initial volume of 1,400 units per month in March, and later will export Vios kits to the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia in July, said Mr Sonoda. Vios exports will start next year to Japan, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, China and Australia. To see more of the Bangkok Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bangkokpost.com. Copyright (c) 2007, Bangkok Post, Thailand Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |