Ford Motor Co said on Wednesday it planned to introduce eight new vehicles into Southeast Asia over the next five years as part of its effort to win market share in the fast-growing region. The second-largest US automaker has had a "favourable" year so far with sales across the region over the past two months rising 175 percent, driven by sales of its Fiesta small cars, Peter Fleet, president of Ford ASEAN, told Reuters.
"We are very serious about growth in this region," Fleet said in an interview, adding it would be using its manufacturing base in Thailand as the hub for that growth in countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Ford has less than 2 percent of the ASEAN and Thai markets. "It's just because historically in this market we've offered a very limited line-up of vehicles that are built within the Free Trade Area," Fleet, said. Toyota Motor Co had by far the biggest share of the vehicle market in Thailand in 2010 with 40.7 percent, compared with Isuzu's 19.1 percent, Honda's 14.3 percent and Nissan Motor's 6.8 percent, industry data showed.