I mill cars sold this year so lets say an average of 750,000 per year sold over the last 5 years; that's 3,500,000 new cars on the road in addition to what was already on the road.

That's enough cars, if parked with two lanes going in and two out and bumper to bumper, to fill

1. bangkok-chiang mai hwy

2. bangkok- arunyaphratet hwy

3. bangkok-phuket hwy

4. bangkok-nong khai hwy and

5. bangkok-mae sot hwy.

That's 14000 kilometers of highway worth of new cars and there will be another 4000 kilometers worth sold next year.

Amazing when you think about it.

And what does it mean to you and me?

Well nothing really but if we could do it then driving the old banger around town would be a breeze.

mean is time to change to motocycle

Seems that you live up to your user name !!

As long as most of them hang around Nimmenhimanenam Rd & Airport Plaza, no worries - for me

No worries because if you are up to date with the news, the Thai financial crisis will hit very soon, the same will happen here as whats happened in USA/UK, credit becomes unsustainable, ....Asia follows Europe in everything, here just a year or two behind.

Then all the cars and houses will be re possessed by banks........and then maybe all the whinging farangs here will decide to pi$$ off back home where economic greenshoots are starting to grow.

So; on the positive side, why the hell worry? (unless you have one of those unneccessary trucks)

No worries because if you are up to date with the news, the Thai financial crisis will hit very soon, the same will happen here as whats happened in USA/UK, credit becomes unsustainable, ....Asia follows Europe in everything, here just a year or two behind.

Then all the cars and houses will be re possessed by banks........and then maybe all the whinging farangs here will decide to pi$$ off back home where economic greenshoots are starting to grow.

So; on the positive side, why the hell worry? (unless you have one of those unneccessary trucks)

Yeah this economic run based on a Ponzi can't last forever, the only question is how long can the West print before it all collapses? As to too many cars I assume the OP walks and doesn't contribute?

It has struck me from time to time, while stuck in traffic, that if this "emerging economy" should ever actually emerge, and if everyone who wanted to buy a car were to do so (rather than making do with a motorcycle, for instance), then the traffic in Chiang Mai would become unbearable.

As long as most of them hang around Nimmenhimanenam Rd & Airport Plaza, no worries - for me

No worries because if you are up to date with the news, the Thai financial crisis will hit very soon, the same will happen here as whats happened in USA/UK, credit becomes unsustainable, ....Asia follows Europe in everything, here just a year or two behind.

Then all the cars and houses will be re possessed by banks........and then maybe all the whinging farangs here will decide to pi$$ off back home where economic greenshoots are starting to grow.

So; on the positive side, why the hell worry? (unless you have one of those unneccessary trucks)

You're probably correct...but the right truck is very necessary...

Not sure what the OP's point is. There is no practical public transport serving Chiang Mai, unless you live in the centre of town or a couple of minutes walk from the arterial roads leading out of the city. And even then the only available transport is a songteaw, sitting in the back of a covered pickup, breathing in the diesel fumes sucked into the passenger area Happy to hang on to my 2 pickup trucks

I think the point is that the governments car subsidy has been exceptionally successful, boosting local car production after a terrible year last year with flooding and everything?

There was no point to my OP.

I was just amazed that all the new cars purchased in the last 5 years would fit on all of those highways.

Ten years ago CM was a quaint backwater but now it has become a, dare I say it, a hub of activity with all the traffic and pollution that goes with.

Maybe I am just getting older.

I think the point is that the governments car subsidy has been exceptionally successful, boosting local car production after a terrible year last year with flooding and everything?

If you read the other story it boosted car ownership at the cost of home ownership.