Thailand’s economy is not in a very good shape right now. The political impasse in causing a lot of uncertainties, and spillover effects are being felt in the country’s automotive sector. Rising interest rates and stricter vetting of hire purchase applications are also putting a damper on new car sales. Due to its sheer scale, Thailand’s auto sector also serves as a bellwether of sorts for the rest of the region’s auto sector. In the first half of 2023, total new car sales in Thailand contracted

In Daihatsu’s latest follow-up to the countermeasures following the spate of procedural irregularities involving the UN safety certification of 5 Daihatsu-developed models – Toyota Vios / Yaris Ativ, Perodua Axia, Daihatsu Rocky Hybrid, Toyota Raize Hybrid, and an yet-to-launched model (likely to be the Japan-only new generation Daihatsu Move) – the company has revamped its organizational structure to separate quality management teams from sales, while three executives have been transferred out.

Though the compact SUV market in Indonesia is fairly new, it has been dominated mostly by the Toyota Raize and Daihatsu Rocky. The twins to the Perodua Ativa seemed unbeatable but that all changed once the Honda WR-V entered the fray. In its first month of sales, the WR-V has overtaken the Raize as Indonesia’s best-selling compact SUV and that momentum seems to continue according to the latest sales data. While both SUVs are priced close to one another in Indonesia, the WR-V won’t be looking at

Toyota South Africa has launched its newest and cheapest model there and it looks awfully familiar. That’s because the Toyota Agya is the Perodua Axia’s twin (triplet if you include the Daihatsu Ayla). Starting at ZAR 178,600 for the base 5-speed manual transmission, the Indonesian-built Agya is the cheapest Toyota model in the nation famous for the sweet sounds of the vuvuzela. It comes standard with 14-inch alloy wheels, manual air-conditioning, electric windows, a start button, ABS, and dual

Perodua Axia The Perodua Axia was given an update last year with a couple of new features, namely the inclusion of stability control from the GXtra variant and above and ASA 2.0 for the range-topping Advance variant. The Axia Style was a bit of a surprise as it stood out from the rest of the range. It gets unique front grille and bumper design with black cladding all around for that crossover/SUV look. How to connect USB to Axia? It fits the global trend of rising SUVs and crossovers but what’s

ESC stands for Electronic Stability Control. It's computer-controlled feature that prevents the car from skidding. ESC is proven to be the most successful active safety device since it’s introduction, with research data showing a 50 percent of road accidents on cars with ESC. Initially only available in high-end cars, ESC is now available in even the cheapest Perodua, with the Bezza being the first. But the Bezza is not the only affordable car in our market with ESC. Here are 5 of the most affor