Car sales rise in Cambodia

Potential buyers browse through new vehicles at the Ford showroom in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Vireak Mai/Phnom Penh Post

 

Published: 4 Jul 2013 
Bangkok Post 

Economic growth and the emerging middle class in Cambodia have boosted new car sales which are on course to break last year's record.

Toyota sold more than 600 new cars in the first half of this year, a 50% jump year-on-year, the Phnom Penh Post on Thursday quoted Kong Nuon, chairman of Toyota Cambodia, as saying.

The Japanese auto manufacturer expected to sell at least 1,200 cars by the end of this year, breaking the 2012 record of 800 units, he added.

"The demand of new car brands in Cambodia grows annually, parallel with the growing Cambodian economy and the rising number of middle class families," Nuon was quoted as saying.

The great floods in Thailand in 2011 also disrupted supplies of Toyota and Ford for Cambodia.

Sales of Ford vehicles rose 25% in the same period, according to Seng Voeung, the auto motor division manager of RMA Cambodia, an authorised Ford dealer, but he declined to give exact figures.

"The demand is huge. The pickup model is the best-selling because consumers consider it flexible to use for both business and leisure activities," he told the Cambodian newspaper.

Demand for new cars is estimated at 3,000 units this year in Cambodia.

Toyota is the most popular among Cambodian drivers.