A peek into the Thai auto industry

ISUZU MU-X blue power

AT THE 2016 Bangkok International Motor Show, I was honored to be a guest of Motor Image Enterprises to witness the unveiling of the latest face-lifted Subaru Forester. You’ll read about that in other news, plus my driving impressions soon.

For this column, though, I decided to take a different perspective—comparing the Thai auto industry with the Philippines’ own.

The Philippine automotive industry has been on a high for the last four years (323,000-plus units sold in 2015), and 2016 looks to be an even greater year for the industry, with combined industry sales projection seen to hit anywhere from 365,000 to 380,000.

In contrast, Thailand had breached the one-million sales mark a few years ago, and although the local Thai industry has been on a slowdown, we’re still quite a way off from hitting their level.

Looking at some indicators in the various niches and segments of the Thai auto industry, the difference is obvious.

Thailand’s biggest strength is its automotive manufacturing industry, and with it, the very high standards of locally produced original equipment manufacturers and suppliers.

This has spun off a very healthy aftermarket industry because the know-how, competence, expertise and manufacturing base have grown and evolved due to stringent OEM requirements passed on to the supporting industries.

A quick look at the aftermarket section of the Bangkok Motor Show showed a healthy dose of locally grown brands selling alloy wheels, bodykits, suspension components particularly for SUVs, pickups, 4x4s and the like.

Mitsubishi showed off a Mirage Sedan sports concept, and many of the parts were supplied by the local Thai aftermarket industry.

Secondly, motorsports is a good indicator of technical competence, as well as the demanding engineering requirements and challenges sought by the local industry.

I was impressed to find a Toyota Altis campaigned by Toyota Team Thailand by Arto at the infamous Nürburgring VLN Racing Series.

Yes, it’s a Thai team competing in the toughest production-based racing series in the world, at inarguably the toughest race track in the world, the infamous Nürburgring.

MITSUBISHI Strada update

Closer to home, AAS Auto Service, the official importer for Porsche automobiles in Thailand campaigns the latest 991 GT3 Cup Car at the Carrera Cup Asia under the Asian Le Mans Series.

When will we get our own race team to campaign around Asia?

MITSUBISHI Mirage Sedan sports concept

Since the Japanese love Thailand (there are supposedly over 4,000 Japanese food establishments in Thailand to cater to the Japanese who love to live and visit Thailand), automotive culture embraced from Japan is also apparent.

See the RE Amemiya kitted FD3S RX-7 time attack race car? It looks straight out of a Battle Evome event on Tsukuba Circuit.

RX-7 time attack car

Care to see more of the difference?

McLaren cars are available in Thailand. The rumor mill has it that McLaren is already negotiating with three potential local partners in Manila, all established sports car/luxury importers in the country. Having identified and selected a proposed showroom at the posh new Shangri-La at the Fort on Bonifacio High Street in BGC, it’s a matter of when they will open, and with whom!

Rolls-Royce also unveiled a bespoke to the Thai market Ghost Extended wheelbase named KoChaMongKol. Though Rolls-Royce is present in the country, I wonder when we will get our own bespoke-to-the-Philippines Rolls-Royce special model?

SUBARU Viziv

Of course, a regional launch being held in a country signifies the importance of that market to the region, and to the world in general.

Subaru chose to unveil their updated Forester. Isuzu unveiled their new 1.9 DDi Blue Power MU-X.

And Mitsubishi unveiled their heavily upgraded Strada pickup which now features the same drivetrain (4N15 Mivec engine, eight-speed automatic) as the recently unveiled Montero Sport.

Will we be getting these soon?

SUBARU RS2

Of course, the really big news relevant to the Philippines was the unveiling of the all-new 10th-generation Honda Civic, as well as the Honda BR-V, both Hondas teasing local consumers for a few months now.

Still no word yet on its official Philippine launch, but both cars will be immense game changers to Honda when they break cover.

Fingers crossed, we hope to get the 1.5-liter turbocharged variant with the six-speed manual.

PORSCHE 991 GT3

Any proper motorshow isn’t complete without concept cars. Chevrolet unveiled a close-to-production concept of its latest Colorado pickup and Trailblazer SUV, as these twins are quite old compared to the latest offerings from nemesis competitors Ford (Everest and Ranger), Toyota (Hilux and Fortuner), Mitsubishi (Montero Sport and Strada) and Isuzu (MU-X and D-Max).

Subaru showed off its Viziv concept, which rumors say hint at the next Forester, while Toyota also showed off its C-HR concept, another cross-over SUV concept that might potentially slot in below the RAV4 as demand for crossovers and SUVs grow worldwide.

While we sometimes see these concept cars on local shores, it’s nowhere near as commonplace as seeing them in foreign motorshows.

NISSAN GT-R 2

That’s an unfortunate sign that our local Philippine market is not yet as big, or as important as other markets.

But we are in the right direction. It’s only a matter of time until the local automotive industry reaches a level where the rest of the world will truly recognize our importance.

NEW Honda Civic

Industry experts believe that the demand will taper off somewhere in the vicinity of half a million cars a year, something we hope to achieve in the next five to six years (assuming our political climate improves and the local economy doesn’t falter, or we don’t suffer a major crisis or global economic slump).

HONDA BRV

With the growth in the market, I hope local manufacturing grows as well, along with the supporting industries, which ultimately means more jobs for our countrymen.

But before we can even discuss that, we should address the worsening traffic woes. That, unfortunately, is something we have more of than our Thai neighbors.