Mr. Sugata revealed, “In 2019, Thailand’s automotive market reached 1,007,552 units to be exact, which represents a 3% decrease compared to the previous year. This is the fourth time in the history of the Thai automotive market to hit over 1 million-unit level even though the market showed the sharp decline in the latter half of last year, especially from September.”  

2019 Market Result

        For the 2020 automotive industry outlook, Mr. Sugata projected, “This year is going to be another challenging year for Thailand's overall automotive industry. We are facing with the headwinds, including the decreasing level of consumer confidence and private consumption, tightening car-loan scheme, and continued uncertainty of the global economic trends. Taking these unfavorable factors into consideration, we expect that the total market will be 940,000 units, representing a 7% decrease from last year.”

2020 Domestic Sales Forecast

       Mr. Sugata said, “In 2019, we were able to overcome the market negative growth and achieve a 6% increase in the domestic sales, accounting for 332,380 units. With this sales figure, we hit 33.0% market share, a 2.8 points improvement over 2018. The growth is a result of both the positive feedbacks from our valued customers and the launch of our all-new model passenger car and commercial vehicles. From our passenger car, such as Camry, Corolla Altis, Yaris, Ativ and our commercial vehicles, such as Hilux Revo, Revo Z Edition, All New Commuter and Majesty.”

2019 Toyota Sales Performance

        Mr. Sugata added, “For our 2020 target, in the midst of the projected market decline, Toyota will try to maintain a 33.0% market share with 310,000 units, a 7% decrease from last year. Towards our goal, we will be strengthening our product line-up with the upcoming models and product improvements in order to well respond to various customer needs, while also enhancing the ownership experience of our customers from the very first day of their purchase to the end of the product life cycle.”

2020 Toyota Car Sales Forecast

        In terms of export in 2019, Toyota’s CBU export volume ended up with 264,775 units, a 10% decline year on year. As for our production, last year, the total volume for domestic and export market combined was 570,850 units, a 3% decline from the previous year. This is a result of the difficult economic situation in Oceania, Central and South America regions.

2019 Toyota’s CBU Export and Production Result

        For Toyota’s CBU export target this year, we will challenge our CBU export target at 263,000 units, a slight decrease of 1% from last year. As for our production performance will be 556,000 units, a 3% decline from last year, in alignment with the local and global demand.

2020 Toyota’s CBU Export and Production Plan

        Mr. Sugata added, “As the automotive industry has entered a once-in-a-century period of profound transformation, Toyota is now aiming at transforming from a car manufacturing company to a “Mobility Company” which implies a proactive engagement in all kind of services related to mobility to people in the society.        

        Over 57 years of business operation in Thailand, Toyota is deeply committed to the creation of Ever-Better Society through a wide variety of environment-friendly initiatives, for example the hybrid EV introduction in various models, the local production of the latest 4th generation hybrid EV batteries, providing good fuel efficiency as well as lower CO2 emissions, and the batteries life cycle management. We believe these initiatives will surely help create a green society.

        In addition, throughout the past 30 years, we have been promoting road safety as our commitment to creating a Good Driver Society through various activities. For instance, in our “Safe Eco-Driving” training, we have trained for our employees, our dealers, the general public, students and public drivers with over 70,000 people joining the course. We would like to play our significant part of creating “Good Driver Society” as a leading automotive brand in Thailand.

        For the environment related projects, to respond to the government’s environment policy as well as “Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050” to achieve the ultimate goal of “Zero CO2”, one of our important activities is “Toyota Mangrove Reforestation” under “Toyota Green Town” project. This year, we are going to plant additional 50,000 mangrove trees, reaching 692,000 trees in total since we started this project in 2004. Besides, we will also continue the project of collecting marine wastes for the second year and collect 20 tons of wastes this year. With these initiatives, we will be able to absorb over 9,100 tons of carbon dioxide.

       More importantly, under the commitment to create a sustainable green society, we aim to expand and transfer our environment-friendly knowledge to local communities, through our 2 learning centers which are “Toyota Biotope” at our Banpho manufacturing plant and “Toyota Green Town Ayutthaya”. So far, they have been well accepted by Thai people with over 77,000 visitors.

        To foster a sustainable economy especially in up-countries, we have transferred our business knowhow and practice to SMEs, under “Toyota Social Innovation” project, to help improve their business and develop the local economy. So far, we have implemented the project with 19 local businesses nationwide and another 13 businesses to be added this year. We would be very happy if this project would be an integral part of creating sustainable growth for the Thai economy.”

        Mr. Sugata concluded, “As all of you may know, following the concept of “Start Your Impossible”, Toyota Motor Corporation takes the role of the Worldwide Partner of International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee in the mobility category. With this role, we will provide not only vehicles but also mobility services and mobility support products including robots. The Olympic Games will be hosted from 24 July to 9 August 2020, followed by the Paralympic Games from 25 August to 6 September 2020.

        In Thailand, we have joined hands with our valuable partners under the name of "The Power of Unity" on 2 July last year to support Thai athletes in assisting their pregame preparation, cheering for Thai Olympians and Paralympians, and wishing the success of Thai heroes. The Games are approaching and now in a qualifying period. I would like to urge everyone to be a part of the road to success in the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020 by cheering up and encouraging all Thai athletes.

        Besides, Toyota Motor Thailand has provided the All-New Commuter for Olympic athletes as well as the Commuter Welcab, modified for Paralympic athletes. Also, with the expertise in mobility development, we intend to transfer our knowledge and knowhow by improving the tools that support the athlete training. On top of that, we are pleased to offer opportunities for the Paralympic athletes to be a part of our Toyota family, starting from recruiting 4 Paralympic athletes to join the company. All in all, we are honored to be a part of promoting the Olympic and the Paralympic Games for the Thai society.

        All in all, we are deeply proud to be a part of contributing to sustainable growth alongside Thai society.”

Domestic Car Sales of December 2019

1. Total Car Sales: 89,285 units, decrease by 21.4%

2. Passenger Car Sales: 32,766 units, decrease by 18.7%

3. Commercial Vehicle Sales: 56,519 units, decrease by 22.9%

4. One-ton Pickup Sales (Pure Pick up and PPV): 45,025 units, decrease by 23.3%

PPV sales in 1-ton pickup market: 5,432 units
Toyota 2,164 units – Mitsubishi 1,355 units – Isuzu 768 units – Ford 703 units – Chevrolet 298 units – Nissan 144 units

5. Pure Pickup Sales: 39,593 units, decrease by 23.2%

Domestic Car Sales of January – December 2019

1. Toyota Car Sales: 1,007,552 units, decrease by 3.3%

2. Passenger Car Sales: 398,386 units, decrease by 0.3%

3. Commercial Vehicle Sales: 609,166 units, decrease by 5.1%

4. One-ton Pickup Sales (Pure Pick up and PPV): 492,129 units, decrease by 3.8%

PPV sales in 1-ton pickup market: 60,452 units
Toyota 26,217 units – Mitsubishi 13,558 units – Isuzu 9,477 units – Ford 6,355 units – Chevrolet 3,091 units – Nissan 1,754 units

5. Pure Pickup Sales: 431,677 units, decrease by 3.4%