European Isuzu distributor urges Tri Petch to reduce delivery backlog for pickups

Giancarlo Mirandola, president of Midi Europe, said in an interview with Thai reporters yesterday that demand for D-Max trucks had exceeded supply from Thailand in recent months.
The all-new D-Max was launched in Europe in July after Tri Petch Isuzu started production and distribution of the new model earlier in the year.
To boost the supply of its popular model, Isuzu of Japan will open a Bt6.5-billion plant at Gateway Industrial Estate in Chachoengsao, said Hiroshi Nakagawa, president of Tri Petch Isuzu Sales.
The new facility will be able to roll out 130,000 vehicles per year, consisting of 100,000 1-tonne pickups and 30,000 bigger trucks.
According to Midi Group, only 763 Isuzu pickups from Thailand were sold in Europe last year – fewer than the previous year’s 902 units, largely because of disruptions in the global supply chain for auto parts.
Thailand’s massive floods in late 2011 and Japan’s tsunami and earthquake in March of the same year led to the temporary shutdown of many assembly plants in the Kingdom because of the shortage of parts and components.
Tri Petch Isuzu Sales was forced to reduce its shipment of vehicles overseas. Even in Thailand, there were not enough units to fill orders placed by domestic customers.
Midi Group started distributing Isuzus in 1995 in the Italian market. It expanded to France in 2003, and in the following year to Switzerland, Serbia and Romania. It took over the Isuzu distribution business in Spain in 2010.
The group started in 1946 by modifying petrol-fuelled vehicles used in World War II into gas-fired vehicles for sale to Libya.
The euro-zone debt crisis has hurt sales of automobiles and trucks in several markets, Mirandola said.
Besides car, truck and heavy-equipment distribution, which includes the DAF and Takeuchi brands, Midi Group has significant interests in the truck-assembly, real-estate and hotel businesses.
Midi Group’s sales are forecast to drop 30 per cent this year from ?300 million  (Bt11.85 billion) last year because of the euro-zone meltdown, he added.

Striving to reduce backlog
Isuzu customers both in Thailand and abroad currently have a long wait to get their vehicles because of the company’s inability to catch up with demand, said Nakagawa. In Thailand, the delay is now three to four months because of the huge backlog.
“We must apologise to our customers for the long wait and we are trying our best to increase our production in order to shorten the delivery period,” Nakagawa was quoted as saying recently.
The new Gateway plant will increase the company’s output to 300,000 units per year, he said.
Tri Petch Isuzu Sales’ Samrong plant in Samut Prakan can churn out 200,000 vehicles per year. About 70 per cent of its pickups are for the domestic market and the rest for Europe and other markets around the world.
The new plant will enable the company to supply more D-Max pickups to the global market, as the new model has not been introduced yet in many countries.
Thailand has about 100 Isuzu dealers with 300 branches.
Early this month, Isuzu celebrated Thai sales passing the 200,000 mark for the new D-Max truck, including back orders. This was achieved within a year of its launch and was the highest figure ever achieved in its 55-year history here.
The 15,000 orders placed for the pickup within three days of the launch was also a record.