Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Car and fuel price in Thailand

Earlier this year, it looked like to be another great year for cars' companies in Thailand. Motor sales had been up, until a recent surge in oil price slowed them down. Until 6 months ago, one of hot sale cars is a "SUV" (not really a SUV, but legally a modified pick-up truck) from Toyota called Fortuner, at 3000 vehicles per month. It 's said to be assembled in the Philippines. Its gasoline engine version uses a 6 cylinder 2.7 liter engine which sure to suck up fuel real fast. A diesel version use a 3.0 liter engine and cost more : but people were in a waiting list for 3 month before getting it. I suppose by this time, due to high oil price, their sale must have been cooled down.

I read from Business Week magazine yesterday: an article said that with current technology, car companies can squeeze the fuel effiency to save up to 30% more. Perhaps I should wait at least a year or two before buying a new generation of more fuel-efficient car. I believe car companies, in response to more customers who will want to save money on fuel, will start churning them out from assembly lines in about 2 years.

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