The biggest car markets have traditionally been those countries which are most economically advanced, but this is changing fast. The citizens of such countries already have cars, so the market is effectively reduced to a replacement market, and enticing other manufacturers' customers with new and more improved models.
- The biggest markets for the next few decades for automobiles, will be in countries getting rich quickly, where the percentage of people who have cars is still small.
The strength of the world's emerging economies was on display at the opening of the Thai Motor Show today. For the next 10 days, 170,000 people a day will visit the show, and despite the country having been largely under water for much of 2011, the Thai motor industry looks more buoyant than ever.
Organizers expect firm orders for "more than 15,000 eco-cars" to be made at the show, as the low excise duty on such models makes them far more affordable than ever before at just under 400,000 baht (US$13,000).
Mitsubishi and Suzuki launched cars which fit within the Thai Government's eco-car criteria at the show in the form of the Mitsubishi Mirage and an eco version of the Suzuki Swift.
The Mirage and the Eco Swift will compete in Thailand with the Nissan March and the Honda Brio.
The Mirage impressed me. It makes so much more sense for the Thai Government to move its its constituents to low emission vehicles quickly. The concept of electric vehicles is still a long way into the future in many parts of the world, and by offering considerably less excise duties on eco-friendly vehicles, the category has come to life and genuinely ecological gains will be made across the national car park.
The Mirage will be provided to different markets with either 1.0 and 1.2 liter, three-cylinder petrol engines with MIVEC engine technologies and a stop/start system.
The fuel consumption of the Mirage is startling - 4.5 l/100km for the larger engine, but put in the optional CVT ( an infinitely variable, computer-controlled transmission) and low resistance tires, and you should be able to get 3.3 l/100km from the car. Excellent economy, and the car will be available in Europe.
The highlight of the show each year is the amount of entertainment infused into the show with lavish song and dance numbers, acrobatics, the appearances of a wide range of pop stars, and a general theme of entertainment.
One of the prime drawcards of the show is the appearance of large numbers of very well trained promotional models - for some strange reason, Thailand has more models who know how to work with professional photographers in a show context than any other country - seemingly by a factor of ten or more.
Which means the Thai camera industry ought to be sponsoring the show because every member of the 1.7 million visitors to the show seems to have at very least a point-and-shoot camera, and usually much more professional gear - and the amateurs have a field day.
Many of the major concept cars shown for the first time in the last few months at "major" international shows such as Detroit, Tokyo and Geneva were on display.
Cars we have seen previously included the Nissan Townpod concept, Mercedes Benz' new Concept-A class and ML 250 CDI, Volvo's new V60 and Toyota's NS4 hybrid concept car and FT-EV III electric concept.
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