Motor show outgrowing Bitec

Anyone with an extra 70 million Baht (US$ 1.8 million) to spend all in one go can get their wish at the 2004 Bangkok International Motor Show in Thailand this year.

As 70 million Thai Baht is the price tag of the "Maybach", the most expensive car in the Mercedes-Benz booth at the Bangkok Motor Show. But please bring along some extra millions of pocket-money as this is only the base-price and you will surely want some little extras coming with your new car.

But apart from high-end luxury cars such as the Maybach from Mercedes-Benz, a wide range of vehicles will be on display at the Bangkok International Motor Show in Thailand, ranging from family passenger cars to sport and utility vehicles plus multi-purpose vehicles and the popular pickup trucks.

The "Bangkok Motor Show" is set for March 26 to April 4 at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) in Bangkok Thailand where more than 26 automobile companies and six motorcycle firms, as well as over 300 car accessories companies, will be represented. Last year, the Motor Show in Bangkok drew 1.6 million visitors with 14,000 vehicles sold at the show for a price tag of nearly 10 billion Baht.

However, the Bangkok Motor Show is very fast outgrowing the BITEC exposition center in Thailand. According to one of the organizers, next year's event will have to move to a much larger facility, maybe to Muang Thong Thani near Bangkok.

"Apart from the Muang Thong exhibition center, the Bangkok International Motor Show has two other proposals on the table for the year 2005," said Khun Jaturont Komolmis, vice chairman of the event's organizing committee and Grand Prix Group's special activities director.

Dr Prachin Eamlumnow, chairman of the organizing committee, said the event had fulfilled his hopes. "After 25 years of Bangkok Motor Show, the trade fair is now accepted worldwide as one of the biggest motor shows in Asia," he said. The Bangkok Motor Show is now also controlled by the OICA (Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles), the governing body for motor-show events worldwide.

Prachin said that the show was a way of telling the world that Thailand is really "The Detroit of Asia". "Prime Minister Thaksin has even appointed a strategic committee to review the automobile industry with the aim that automobile production in Thailand will reach 1.8 million units per year by the year 2010," Prachin further added.

For the Thai Automobile Industry Association, which is a joint organizer of the event, Khun Adisak Rohitasun said that representatives from the OICA and Asean automotive industry associations plus top executives from auto and motorcycle companies, would be invited to attend the grand opening as guests of Thailand's Ministry of Industry.