Foreign Makes Top Brands List

Foreign brands dominate a list of most preferred trademarks in Thailand except, not surprisingly, for real estate, where consumers voted for Land & House, a survey revealed yesterday.

Thai consumers opt for a Toyota when they look for a car, Sanyo for a refrigerator, LG for a washing machine, Acer for a personal computer, Mitsubishi for an air-conditioner, and Nokia for a mobile phone, a report by Strategic Business Information Consultant Co (SBIC) revealed.

In the real estate sector, where foreigners are not allowed involvement, Land & House is tops in the mind of local consumers, followed by the government’s Ua Athorn low-income housing project.

Land & House is expected to win a market share of 34.4 per cent compared to Ua-Athorn’s 21.1 per cent this year, said the company.

Japan-based Toyota is the most-preferred brand of carmaker in Thailand, with a market share of 37 per cent, compared to the runner up Honda, which is expected to have a 27.5-per cent market-share in 2004.

Isuzu is expected to have an 18.5 per cent market share this year and Nissan 4.1 per cent, SBIC president Sumas Wongsunopparat said yesterday in a seminar on marketing demand forecasts.

“Of existing Toyota customers, 53 per cent would like to buy a Toyota as a second car, compared to 43.6 per cent of Honda’s customers who would continue to buy a Honda as their second car,” he said.

From the survey, 23 per cent of Toyota’s existing customers would like to switch to Honda, while 30.9 per cent of Honda’s customers would like to switch to Toyota, he said.

Second-hand cars are less popular than brand new cars in Thailand as the survey found that 72.2 per cent of the people in the sample would like to buy a brand new car.

The survey found that Japanese electronic appliance manufacturer Sony ranked as the most preferred television brand in Thailand, follow by Panasonic and Samsung.

The results came despite a recent report that Samsung has overtaken its rival’s decades-long leadership in local television sales for the first time last year.

Sanyo is the most preferred brand for refrigerators, followed by Samsung and Hitachi.

Nokia is the most preferred brand of mobile phone for 2004, chosen by 81.5 per cent of those surveyed, followed by Samsung at 8.3 per cent, and Motorola at 3.8 per cent.

Mitsubishi is the favourite brand in the air-conditioner market, followed by Trane, Saijo Denki, and York. Acer is the most popular brand of personal computer, while LG leads in the washing-machine market.

For real estate, Land & House is expected to be the leader in 2004 with a 34.4 per cent market share, follow by the government’s low-cost housing project.

Rangsit is the most preferred location for the majority of homebuyers.