The firm’s latest report shows that total volumes fell to 245,000 units overall, with Indonesia accounting for 34% of the total and Thailand now just 29%.

Demand for LCVs fell faster than that for passenger vehicles, but LMCA noted that this will be due in large part to the fact that it is Thailand’s sales decline driving the overall regional decline and that Thailand’s market has a high proportion of pickup trucks. At a regional level, LCVs account for just 28% of all sales, but in Thailand it is more than double that at 49%.

While the regional sales performance has been highly influenced by Thailand year to date, November also experienced an extra downward spike due to the 30% increase fuel prices in Indonesia causing that market to fall by 19%. However, while the price increase is expected to remain, fuel prices in Indonesia continue to be among the cheapest in the region, and LMCA said it expects it to stabilise following an adjustment period with the consumers.

The majority of the top sales groups across the region posted sales declines through November, with the exception of Hyundai Group and Ford Group, which grew by 8% and 2%, respectively, although both recorded total regional sales through the first ten months of the year of under 100,000 units.

Toyota Group, the largest sales group across the region, posted sales of just over 1 million units through November, down by 8%. The second largest group, Honda Group, performed marginally better with sales down by just 5% to 330,000.

The MINI car segment is one of the few growing segments across ASEAN, with sales almost double those seen in 2013 through November, giving it a 10% share of the overall regional market at present.

Toyota’s Agya, Daihatsu’s Ayla and Suzuki’s Karimun Wagon R are driving this volume growth in the Mini car segment through the Indonesian Low‐Cost Green Car (LCGC) programme.

At the other end of the spectrum, the luxury segment is also performing well, with sales up to 36,000 units across the region through the first 11 months of 2014.

Among the luxury sub‐segments, the luxury SUV is becoming one of the most competitive, not only in ASEAN, but across the Asia‐Pacific region as a whole. LMCA added that in ASEAN it is the BMW X‐Series that currently holds the top spot, but both Lexus and a new range of models from Mercedes‐Benz as well as the increasing popularity of the Audi Q‐Series means that BMW is going to have to fight to maintain its position as the leading Premium SUV manufacturer across the South East Asian region.