How Thailand 4x4 top exporter became so

Parallel export is export of products by companies with no association to the manufacturer. Parallel export from Asia is now almost a century old business and has served to lower costs for all consumers. Auto manufacturers like all manufacturers practice price discrimination where they charge a higher price in markets where they can and lower price where there is competition. This is where parallel exporters and importers step in. A parallel exporter sets shop in the market where price is significantly lower, importers in high price countries found him and begin importing these vehicles and manufacturer is forced to lower his prices.

This practice started by accident in 1911. M. A. Quraishi was a true automobile pioneer. He was the first Asian to import his own automobiles at the dawn of 20th century. Opening Asia's first dealership in 1911 was a natural progression of his growing business. His intent was to just sell to the people in his city but the first day he set business a Burmese guy showed up with cash in hand and wanted Mr. Quraishi to ship the vehicle to him in Rangoon. Thus Mr. Quraishi became not just Asia's first auto importer but also its first auto exporter. By and by his export business outstripped his retailing business.

The history repeated itself when Soni Quraishi - grandson of M. A. Quraishi - opened his dealership in Thailand on the quad principles of honesty, customer service, low cost, high quality that Quraishi Senior had enunciated. Soni Motors Thailand had emerged as one of Thailand's most successful dealership. One day an auto importer from Japan on vacation in Thailand end up in one of Mr. Soni's showroom and on a whim decided to see if there would be a demand for Thailand assembled Japanese vehicles in his market. The rest is as they history. Soni is not only Thailand's oldest and largest auto exporter but since Thailand is the global hub of diesel 4x4 vehicles Soni Motors Thailand (http://www.sonirodban.com) has also emerged as world's largest exporter of diesel 4x4 vehicles as Toyota Hilux Vigo, Toyota Fortuner SUV, Mitsubishi L200 Triton, Nissan Navara, Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, Chevy Colorado, Honda CR-V, Isuzu DMax and Isuzu MU-7 among others.

Thailand automotive exporting arena is different from Japanese and Singaporean automotive exporting arena where market is shared by hundreds of vendors with no clear leader. Thailand automotive exporting scene is dominated by two players: The Soni Group of Companies (http://www.sonimotorsthailand.com) which has a 70%-80% market share and Mark Motors Thailand (www.markmotorsthailand) which has 10%-15% share and the rest shared by an ever changing cast of exporters.

John Fambrini is a noted automobile industry expert based in New York. He is sought by media and analysts for his vast knowledge of history, composition and trends of Asian automotive industry. He may be contacted at johnfambrini@gmail.com