AutoAlliance Thailand, the Ford-Mazda joint venture with an assembly plant in Rayong, has been asked to increase the production of Mazda2 subcompact cars and BT-50 pickup trucks, as existing supplies for both models could not keep pace with soaring orders, both at home and abroad.

"Mazda is also negotiating with AutoAlliance to increase the production quotas for the cars and pickups in order to be able to deliver vehicles to customers right on schedule," said Choichi Yuki, managing director of Mazda Sales (Thailand), the local Mazda vehicle distributor.

AutoAlliance's plant currently produces 100,000 passenger cars per year, split evenly between the Mazda2 and Ford Fiesta. It also builds 175,000 pickups a year, also split equally between the Mazda BT-50 and Ford Ranger. A Mazda senior executive said that since the annual capacity of AutoAlliance's plant slated for Mazda2 production had not yet been fully utilised, Mazda wanted the plant to raise the output for the model, possibly by increasing working shifts or the workforce.

Mazda customers today have to wait at least two months for deliveries of the Mazda2. As well, the supply of BT-50s has already run out with no vehicles to be delivered to local customers because almost all of the pickup trucks made there have been exported.

Mr. Yuki said Mazda had been able to maintain monthly sales of 3,000 units for four consecutive months in July thanks to the unconventional low-season marketing activities for Mazda2. The roadshows at four university campuses - Mahidol, Thammasat, Siam and ABAC - drove up July sales of all models to 3,034 units, surging 272% year-on-year.

Mazda has also achieved an all-time high market share of 4.7% and is confident that the Mazda2 and the Mazda3's new sports upgrade look will help maintain the sales for the remaining part of the year.

Sales of the Mazda2 sedan were the highest at 1,207 units, followed by the Mazda2 hatchback (358 units), the BT-50 pickup (579 units), the CX-9 sports crossover (5 units) and the MX-5 roadster (2 units).

Mr. Yuki added that the sales of Mazda vehicles in Thailand are progressing as planned. This year Mazda has set a sales target of 35,000 units.

In the first seven months, it has already sold 19,929 units, up 244%, of which 13,660 units were Mazda2, 3,222 units Mazda3, 2,981 units BT-50, 41 units CX-9 and 25 units MX-5. This year's sales are expected to be slightly higher than originally predicted.