According to organiser TTF International Co Ltd, this year’s theme is “Mobility Solutions”. The event will cover 15,000sqm in hall 106.

“It is a commercial and specialised vehicle show for Asean, and this year we are featuring in a large number of new technologies and innovations for the transport business,” said deputy managing director Supaman Munka.

Also featured are equipment, auto parts and comprehensive solutions for the commercial vehicle industry, Supaman added.

In addition to major truck brands and automotive product manufacturers, this year there is also due to be Auto Services ‘18 with auto maintenance equipment and products, Material Handling ’18 with conveyors and storage, container and safety, and Traffic and Transport ’18 with road-building, bridge and tunnel construction, street light signals and speed radar equipment

Una Tan, director of Chevrolet sales director, said: “The ‘Chevrolet Happy Rainy Day 2018’ is launched to offer a special privilege to the customers who get their vehicles checked at Chevrolet dealership nationwide during the rainy season and spend more than Bt5,000 on parts, exclusive of labour fee, accessory packs and value-added tax.

“Customers will also get a limited edition reversed umbrella worth Bt690.”

The campaign starts on July 16 and ends on September 15.

“As for the ‘Friend Gets Friends’ campaign, by inviting your friends to purchase any model of Chevrolet and after their purchasing contract is signed, your friends and you will receive a complimentary tyre pressure pump kit worth Bt2,350,” she added.

The “Friend Gets Friends” campaign runs from June 15 to August 3.

Chevrolet customers can request up to five codes per person. Contact Chevrolet on 1734.

While 5.8 million vehicles produced by Toyota Motor Thailand Co Ltd, Thailand’s largest auto producer, were for the domestic market, as much as 4.2 million units were exported globally, generating as much as Bt2.58 billion for the country, executives said during a ceremony at the Samrong plant yesterday.

The Japanese auto maker started producing vehicles in Thailand back in 1962 at its Samrong plant, rolling out the Corolla, Corona, Hilux and Dyna during the first 10 years of operations.

With the Gateway plant helping to churn out passenger cars for the Thai market, Toyota production in Thailand reached the 1-million unit mark in 1996, before growing to 5 million units in 2010 after establishing the Ban Pho plant.

According to Toyota, the company has 172 first-tier suppliers, in addition to 155 dealerships around the country.

With 14,500 employees, Toyota Motor Thailand has a combined production capacity of 750,000 units per year.

Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana, who presided over the ceremony, said “Toyota’s great success was a result of its investments in various automotive projects supported by the policy of the Thai government including the one-tonne pick-up truck under the IMV project and eco-cars. It was also the first to invest in hybrid vehicle manufacturing and the first automaker investing in battery production worth almost Bt20 billion. This helped the transfer of knowledge and technology into the country. TMT president Michinobu Sugata said Toyota has complete confidence in Thailand and the the company’s future direction in the country.

“To accelerate Thailand’s competitiveness, Toyota-Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing has been working to boost the research and development capabilities of Thai engineers,” he said.

“It has more than 400 Thai engineers, who have succeeded in redesigning the exteriors of the new Yaris and Hilux, and also made a significant contribution to our 10-million-unit production.

“Together with Toyota-Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing, Toyota Motor Thailand will shift the gear towards creating ‘Ever-better’ mobility.

“ We will continue to invest in our facilities and our people to deliver products and services that offer happiness to our customers.”

Speaking at Mazda Sales (Thailand) Co Ltd’s half-year press conference, company president Chanchai Trakarnudomsuk said Thailand’s improving economy and expanding automobile market were among factors enabling Mazda Thailand to have delivered its best half-year performance ever.

Chanchai said last year Mazda sold a total of 51,355 vehicles in Thailand, an increase of 21 per cent while the company’s market share expanded to 5.9 per cent.

“It was higher than our expectations,” he said. “During the first six months of 2017, we sold 23,893 vehicles with a 5.8-per cent market share. But in the first six months of this year, we sold 33,593 units, an increase of 41 per cent from the same period last year and a market share of 6.9 per cent.”

The Mazda2 subcompact is the most popular model, with 21,741 units sold from January to June 2018, posting a growth of 52 per cent. The new CX-5 also did well, with sales of 3,254 units, growing by 179 per cent.

Other Mazda models include the Mazda3 (2,621 units), CX-3 (1,562 units) and MX-5 (16 units).

Chanchai said the new Mazda Corporate Identity (MCI) is currently being introduced at Mazda showrooms nationwide.

Half of Mazda’s 134 showrooms have undergone changes to a new concept, with the company setting a target of renovating 90 per cent of all the premises by year-end. The number of showrooms will also be raised to 140.

Vice president for marketing and government affairs Thee Permpongpanth said Mazda will concentrate on aggressive marketing in the second half , starting with the launch of the minor-change CX-3 later this month. He said Mazda will be involved with its own marketing strategy including sales promotion, roadshows and online marketing.

Mazda’s historic achievement is the result of an improving Thai economy and a domestic automobile market that is expected to exceed 1 million units this year.

The company has now raised its annual sales target by 27 per cent to 65,000 units, president Chanchai Trakarnudomsuk said at a press conference on Monday.

Ford’s year-to-date sales have increased 28 per cent to 32,677, helping drive its overall market share up 0.5 percentage point from the same period last year to 6.7 per cent, said Yukontorn Wisadkosin, president of Ford Asean.

Sales of the segment-defining Ranger jumped 36 per cent year on year during the April-June period to 13,256 vehicles. Year-to-date Ranger sales have also risen 36 per cent to 27,455 vehicles, he added.

The event is being held for the sixth year, and offers a bit of everything ranging from outlandish custom cars to a live Japanese cultural show, sexy presenters and even an international food court right inside the main hall.

The event is held at Challenger 2 Hall, which isn’t too large to walk around. Organisers say that there are more than 150 booths set up this year, but with a large number of mainstream automobile companies taking part and offering sales promotions for current models, I felt that the “tuning car” theme of the show has somewhat been weakened.

Nevertheless many of the highlights, which are top exhibits from the Tokyo Auto Salon held in January this year, were able to catch the attention of showgoers with their “wackiness” level.

For example, the Nissan 4 Turbo Quad Eyes. Built by Caroline Racing, it is based on an S14 Sylvia for drift shows and is powered by a 2JZ-GTE Toyota engine blown by four turbochargers. They consist of two Trust TD-06-17C turbochargers and a pair of T88-34D turbochargers, which are the largest ones made by Trust.

The T-88’s are the main turbochargers, while the smaller pair is activated via a lever in the cockpit. In addition, there’s also a small jet turbine to help create downforce at the rear.

Production of the Mazda RX-7 ended ages ago, but the sexy coupe is still a hit among car tuners. The RX-7 BN Sport BLS FD3S gets bridge port mods and a large HKS T51R turbocharger.

BN Sport, which is a world-class car-body maker, came up with new BLS body parts, adding a 95mm length to the front and 100mm to the rear.

Another fun car on display is the yellow Suzuki Swift Monster Sport XZC33S that has been tuned for rallying and gymkhana. Thanks to the K200 turbo kit made by Mitsubishi (including intake and exhaust systems) and a new N1B ECU that has been re-tuned to match the modifications, the Monster gets 190 horsepower on a 1.1-bar boost pressure.

Another outstanding exhibit is the Tommy Kaira R Concept, which is based on a Nissan GT-R. It comes in a striking “bay-side blue” colour and a front bumper with large air intake and cooling ducts.

The Honda NSX Modulo features add-ons from Honda’s official accessories brand, and exterior decals is based on the Modulo Kenwood NSX GT3 race car.

After the highlight exhibits, visitors can continue towards the accessories zone that abounds with products and pretties in colourful outfits. Apart from checking out products on display, a common tradition for many visitors is to take photos with the attractive presenters.

Tuning parts such as turbochargers, brake discs and car audio booths can be found, along with famous tuning stables such as Spoon and Liberty Walk, well-known for customising supercars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

More car distributors are present this year and are located towards the end of Challenger Hall. Apart from displaying a good collection of customised vehicles, each brand also gets to sell new vehicles just as they can at other motor shows such as the recently-concluded FAST Auto Show Thailand at BITEC last week.

Once again, Honda’s highlight is the recently-launched HR-V minor change, which is available with Modulo parts, while Mazda is showing off its two Mazda2 road racing cars as well as its usual product lineup.

Toyota has a big collection of modified cars, including a blue C-HR carrying two kayaks as well as tuned-up Hilux Revo pickups. Next door, you can find Isuzu’s special models as well as quarter-mile drag racers based on the D-MAX.

Nissan’s highlight is the GT-R and the Gran Turismo Racing Pod, while Suzuki is present with a large number of customised Swift eco cars.

There’s a centre stage in the middle of the hall where special activities are held, whether it’s the ninja shows from Japan or sexy carwash performances by Japanese and Thai models.

The food court is located on the left side of the hall and features a good number of stalls offering many different treats, ranging from Japanese curry to pasta and Thai cuisine.

While Thailand hosts a large number of auto shows each year, the Bangkok Auto Salon, with its good variety of attractions, has its own unique theme and offers an entertaining day out for car nuts and even car buyers in general.

According to the firm, the transport sector worldwide is going through a period of profound transformation impacting a variety of sectors. EV battery prices, raw material prices, national policies, automaker plans, mobility as a service, charging infrastructure and other forces are all changing rapidly.

These will have a profound impact on oil resources, electricity and automotive markets over the next 20 years, it stated.

Thailand is deeply embedded in the global auto supply chain as the sixth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world.

Colin McKerracher, head of advanced transport, answered questions regarding EV technology for use in this part of the world.

Q: From your findings, do you think customers are ready for EV technology? In 10 years, would the number of EVs rise significantly in this region?

A: Interest in electric vehicles is rising around the world and automakers are responding by launching many new models across almost all vehicle segments. We expect there to be almost 300 different EV models available globally by 2022 and we expect EV sales to rise significantly in all regions over the next 10 years. In Thailand specifically, much of the near-term opportunities will be around electrifying buses, two-wheelers and three-wheelers, we think the four-wheeled passenger EVs segment will take a bit longer to get going here than in markets like the US, China and Europe.

Q: Since EVs are intended to be charged at home while the owner is sleeping, how important is it to have a network of public charging stations?

A: For many EV owners, home charging will be all they need. But not everybody has easy access to home charging points, and for these people a robust network of public charging infrastructure is still important. At the end of 2017 there were over 500,000 public charging points globally, but the distribution is very uneven. Some regions like China, California and parts of Western Europe have jumped ahead, but others will take longer to build up their networks. In our long term EV adoption outlook, we view access to charging infrastructure as one of the biggest barriers that holds back faster adoption of EVs in the longer term.

Q: With increased EV use, how would the power industry handle the significantly increased demand for electricity?

A: Despite our forecast of rapid growth, EVs add just 6 per cent to total global power demand in 2040 because of their high efficiency. This can be accommodated easily by the power system, but there is some risk of localised grid issues in cases where EV charging is clustered in a certain areas. To mitigate this, we expect energy suppliers to push more time-of-use EV charging tariffs and other smart charging tools. Done right, EVs are an opportunity, not a threat, to the power system.

Ford’s first high-speed, off-road performance truck built in Asia-Pacific was revealed at the 2018 Bangkok Motor Show in March where Ford began taking customer orders.

Deliveries are scheduled to start in August. Combining tough character and capability, the Ranger Raptor “is truly the ultimate Ranger. With its bold appearance and extreme, off-road performance features, it represents a new and distinctive breed of truck”, said Yukontorn Wisadkosin, president of Ford Asean.

The Ranger Raptor has a 2-litre, bi-turbo diesel engine, 10-speed transmission to deliver 213PS (157kW) of power and 500Nm of torque.

Built with increased ride height and a wider track, it includes standard front and rear Fox shock absorbers to improve ride and handling. It has a terrain management system and Watt’s linkage rear suspension with coilover rear springs for rear axle lateral stability when travelling at high speeds off-road.

The steering wheel has a magnesium paddle shifter and the vehicle has underbody protection to deflect off-road obstacles.

The new bash plate 2.3mm thick, high-strength steel.