The crowds were there, but the buyers weren’t at this year's Bangkok International Motor Show, which missed its target of 40,000 vehicle bookings.
Chaturon Komolmit, deputy organiser for the show at Impact Arena Exhibition and Convention Center in Nonthaburi, said Monday that car and truck orders during the show's March 25 to April 5 run came in at 37,027, a decrease of 6% from last year's 39,415 bookings and short of the show's target of 40,000 sales.
The number of visitors, however, held steady at 1.7 million, the same as in 2014.
Krissada Uttamote, communication director for BMW Group Thailand, said purchasing power has not recovered and consumer confidence was declining.
Somphop Patiphanthada, marketing manager for Honda Automobile Thailand, agreed that purchasing power was slowing and people were waiting for the government to implement projects to stimulate the economy.
Those who did buy were mostly of working age and were interested in vehicles priced at 700,000 baht and over. Medium-size passenger cars, family vehicles and pickup trucks were most popular, Mr Chaturon said.
Toyota took the sales crown at the motor show with 6,144 sales, followed by 5,069 for Honda, 4,584 for Mazda, 4,485 for Isuzu, and 4,042 for Nissan.