5 of the top 10 most booked brands at Thai motor show are Chinese, will they overtake the Japanese?

At the recently concluded 2024 Bangkok Motor Show, 53,438 cars have been reserved in the two-week event. According to data published by the event's organiser, Grand Prix International, Toyota dominates with 8,540 reservations but what is interesting is the meteoric rise of Chinese brands in the Kingdom.

BYD takes second place with 5,345 orders, ahead of Honda in third with 4,607 reservations placed. MG, Changan, GAC Aion, and GWM are ranked fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively.

Isuzu which held the title of Thailand’s best-selling car of 2023, the Isuzu D-Max only received 2,734 bookings at the Bangkok Motor Show which puts it in ninth place.

Most of these Chinese carmakers offer affordable battery electric vehicles (BEVs) that are further enhanced by government incentives as well as price cuts and huge discounts at the motor show.

Such strong acceptance among Thai buyers saw Chinese carmakers making bold claims in the Kingdom. Hozon New Energy Automobile Co, makers behind Neta Auto, announced that it plans to sell 30,000 BEVs in the country this year.

Neta saw 1,618 reservations made at the Bangkok Motor Show, placing it 13th between Mercedes-Benz (1,642 orders) and Suzuki (1,608 orders).

Other noteworthy brands include Zeekr which saw 398 orders placed though no models have been formally introduced in the country yet. The Chinese luxury BEV arm of Geely garnered more interest than Volvo which saw 320 orders being made.

XPeng which also made its ASEAN debut at the Bangkok Motor Show received 188 orders which is higher than Audi, MINI, Lexus, and Peugeot.

Japanese brands still dominate the Thai car market but Chinese brands are growing especially in the BEV market. Brands like Toyota, Honda, and Isuzu are still highly favourable among buyers but the Chinese are slowly but surely looking to take over Thai consciousness.

Last year, Japanese brands saw their Thai market share slip below 80% for the first time in years while Chinese carmakers took a 10% slice of the market. This is largely thanks to the jump in BEV sales last year though some buyers have shared their concern over the resale value.

The Chinese will not be fully banking on BEVs as it looks to other segments to take a bigger piece of the market share pie. BYD opened bookings for the Seal U DM-i, its first plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model for the country while GWM unveiled the Poer Sahar hybrid pick-up truck at the Bangkok Motor Show.

Prices for both models have yet to be announced but these two are examples of the Chinese marques’ next stage in dominating the Thai automotive market. Will they succeed or falter?

Also read: Effect of price war: BYD has overtaken Honda in bookings collected during Thai motor show