The Chinese market keeps going, and going, and going. It was up 47.7 percent in the first six months of 2010. Can’t be, you say? Well, the rest of the Asian markets are not far behind. The six major ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore) bought 41 percent more cars in the first six months of 2010 than in the year before.
“Given that Japanese cars account for about 80 percent of sales in these countries, the growth is expected to give a big boost to earnings” to Japanese automakers, says The Nikkei [sub] The survey covered Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore.
Of course, these countries are no China, but 1.18 million new vehicles were sold in the in the first six months are nothing to sneeze at. With an 80 percent share in the ASEAN countries versus a 20 percent share in China. Japanese carmaker get a bigger slice of the pie. Also, because they pretty much own the market there, their profits are highert than in China or India,
Here are the results in detail:
- Indonesia: Up 76 percent to 370,206 vehicles
- Thailand. Up 54 percent to 356,692 units
- Malaysia: Up 20 percent to 301,077 vehicles
- Philippines: Up 37 percent to 82,147 cars.
(No numbers for Vietnam and Singapore)
Some of those Asian Toyotas are quite cute and practical (I am mostly familiar with them by riding in friends’ cars and from rental perspective).
Yes, Asian Toyotas are cute and practical and are awesome as a rental car. But trust me, as a Malaysian, these cars are terrible as a family car because of their terribly small engine and horrible build quality. So please appreciate your great Japanese cars from your Western country. :(
I assume that this doesn’t include second hand cars from Japan? How large is that number?
Im sorry, my mistake. Should be ASEAN’s Toyotas not Asia. Japan’s Toyotas are obviously the best compared to other countries’. Fyi, the two mpv above are called the Toyota Innova and is not a good car. Terrible in fact. As a rental though,this car should be just fine. And if you really wanna know,the suv at the most front is a Toyota Frontier which is just okay. In fact, the best car in the picture is that red Nissan X-Trail at the right.