Ela Motors leads market

By JASON SOM KAUT
ELA Motors continued to be the market leader in the country last year, with a 52.4% share of the new vehicle sales.
And the company, which is the sole local distributor of Toyota, Hino and Daihatsu, expects sales to increase further.
National marketing manager Abdul Hafiz said sales of light commercial and passenger vehicles went up by 27.9% while heavy trucks by 53.9% last year compared to 2006.
“This was a direct result of a growing economy and higher demands for quality products,” he told The National.
He said the company would invest more in personnel, customer services, parts and service operations and premises this year.
Mr Hafiz said Toyota continued to be the market leader in the light commercial and passenger vehicle segment, with a 49.7% share, followed by Nissan with 19.5% and Isuzu 6.8%.
Mazda, Mitsubishi, Ford, Daihatsu, Hyundai, Suzuki and Mercedes Benz made up the balance, he said.
Ela Motors’ best-seller was the Toyota Land-Cruiser 70 Series.
In the heavy truck market, Hino was in pole position with 44.9% market share.
The balance was made up of Isuzu, Nissan and Kenworth trucks from the other dealers.
In the outboard motor segment, Ela Motor’s Yamaha also continued to dominate more than 91% of the market last year, well ahead of Suzuki, Honda and Evinrude Johnson.