General Motors (Thailand) is upbeat about sales prospects after launching a business restructuring last year to focus on pickup trucks in the Thai market.
The US carmaker said yesterday sales of Chevrolet Colorado pickups rose by 36.5% to 3,042 trucks in the first quarter of this year.
The pickups represent 84% of the company's total sales in Thailand, up from 67% last year.
But total Chevrolet sales for the period fell by 13.7% to 3,622 vehicles.
Managing director Marcos Purty said Thai market conditions are ripe for the pickup segment, which accounts for 47% of the country's automotive market.
"We believe in our local strategy as Chevrolet is very competitive in the pickup truck segment," he said.
"Although some Chevrolet pickup truck sales were pulling away future demand because of purchases before the new excise tax regime started this year, our Colorado models are expected to perform strongly in 2016."
In February last year, Detroit-based GM announced a strategic restructuring of Thai operations and withdrew itself from the second phase of the government's eco-car scheme.
Mr Purty said Chevrolet pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUV) are now the main sales drivers in the Thailand market.
GM runs two plants at Rayong's Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate with a combined investment of US$1.4 billion: one vehicle assembly plant with annual production capacity of 180,000 units and the other a powertrain plant with annual capacity of 120,000 units.
The vehicle plant makes four Chevrolet models: the Colorado, Trailblazer, Captiva SUV and Cruze passenger car.
In a related development, the company introduced the new Chevrolet Colorado High Country yesterday with bookings open via its 102 dealers nationwide.
Mr Purty said the Thai-made vehicle would be available locally in the next couple of months.
Prices for the new Colorado have not been disclosed, but the current model runs from 989,000 to 1.019 million baht.
Mr Purty said 2016 would be a difficult year for carmakers in the country, as the company expects overall sales of 735,000-740,000 units, compared with 799,592 vehicles in 2015.
GM sold 17,456 Chevrolet vehicles in Thailand last year, down 32.3%, while pickups tallied 11,631 units, a decrease of 9.6%.