Toyota Motor’s slower-than-expected growth in Southeast Asia, its third biggest regional market, is becoming a headache as the world’s best-selling carmaker closes on its six-year-old profit record.
In ASEAN - the biggest market for Toyota after North America and Japan, overwhelming Europe or China - the company has been hurt by government policy swings in Thailand and Indonesia and underperformed industry-wide growth.
In Southeast Asia’s biggest car market Thailand, Toyota sold around 237,000 vehicles in January-June, down 2 per cent from the same period a year ago. That compared to an industry-wide growth of 22 per cent, as it was hit by the end of a government subsidy as well as weakness in fuel-efficient small cars.
In Indonesia, Toyota’s vehicle sales are likely to have increased year-on-year in the first half of this year, but at a considerably slower pace than the market as customers hold off purchases ahead of an expected launch of a new small car.
Toyota’s ASEAN exposure is higher than its rivals Honda Motor and Nissan Motor. ASEAN represents a little more than 10 per cent of Toyota’s total global sales.
Globally, Toyota has posted a 5.4 per cent rise in its biggest regional market North America in January-June as the United States is seeing the strongest pace of annual sales in more than five years.