Colourful footage from the annual Bangkok Motor Show where manufacturers made record sales – as ‘pretties’ returned for the first time since the death of the country’s King.
Manufacturers including Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley and Jaguar displayed stunning cars while Harley Davidson and Ducati were there with motorbikes.
The event, captured in the video on Saturday April 6 night, saw record orders for cars.
While the event’s famous models – known locally as ‘pretties’ – were on show in revealing outfits for the first time since King Rama IX’s death in 2016.
Subsequent events had all seen the models wear black for mourning and cover up in traditional Thai silk dresses. Instead of the usual sexy attire, the models at the 2016 event word traditional Thai costumes and long dresses.
The government’s Culture Minister Veera Rojpojanarat had even visited that event to ensure the women were dressed conservatively and behaved properly.
But this year, leather corsets, boots and short skirts returned – with the young models blowing kisses – all helping to bring soaring sales.
Organisers Grand Prix International Plc said there were orders placed for 37,796 cars, up 3.3 per cent from a year earlier – the second consecutive year of growth.
Toyota came top with more than 6110 orders while Mazda was second with 5,211 followed by Honda, which sold 4910 units.
Luxury cars also fared well with Mercedes-Benz coming first with 2,405 sales followed by BMW with 1,569.
GPI boss Jaturont Komolmis said: “Sport-utility vehicles represented 30 per cent of the total car orders while the other segments were sedans, hatchbacks and double-cab pickups.’’
Fully electric cars made by Mine Mobility and FOMM saw combined sales of 6,166 units.
