ASEAN to be 6th biggest auto market globally by 2018

Mr. Vijayendra Rao, Research Manager, Asia Pacific Automotive Practice at Frost & Sullivan said that individually, none of the ASEAN countries has featured in the top ten markets globally, but as a region, it has assumed greater importance in the last few years due to the implementation of ASEAN Free Trade Agreement in 2010 and healthy rivalry among ASEAN member countries to attract foreign investments.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.automotive.frost.com) CEO 360 Degree Perspective of the Automotive Industry in ASEAN (covering 4 key automotive markets in ASEAN – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam) finds that the market is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1 per cent (2011-2018), mainly driven by growth in Thailand and Indonesia.
Mr. Rao said that Thailand and Indonesia vehicle sales are likely to hit 1 million units by 2013 driven by local demand, increased buying power and significant investments from Japanese OEMs.
He added that Indian and Chinese automotive companies are also looking at expanding to ASEAN. He added that ASEAN is a competitive automotive production base and a net vehicle exporter with strong competency in certain product ranges.

“Thailand is expected to continue its dominance as a production hub in ASEAN due to the significant investments by Japanese OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), incentives from the Government, good supply base and required talents,” he said.

He also said that production in Indonesia will cater to local demand, mainly driven by the shift of ownership to cars, multi-purpose vehicles and sports utility vehicles from motorcycles.
Mr. Rao said that passenger vehicle sales in ASEAN are likely to increase at a CAGR of 10.2 per cent to 3.1 million units in 2018 from 1.5 million units in 2011.  Commercial vehicles sales are expected to grow at a slightly slower pace at a CAGR of 9.8 per cent to reach 1.6 million units in 2018 from 780,000 units in 2011.