Toyota Motor Thailand Co, the country's top automobile maker, lost its lead in the pickup truck market in September for the second consecutive month to its longtime rival Isuzu. Isuzu sold 9,803 pickups excluding passenger pickup vehicles (PPVs) in September, edging out Toyota which sold 8,219 trucks, according to preliminary figures from Toyota, which compiles the figures for the whole industry.

In August, Isuzu sold 9,839 units to Toyota's 9,346.

A spokesman for Toyota said the company had fallen behind because its Hilux Vigo, first introduced in September 2004, was at the end of its life cycle.

Toyota introduced a new model with minor changes in August in hopes of restoring its appeal to consumers.

''We expect sales of the new Hilux Vigo will surpass those of the Isuzu D-Max this month,'' said the spokesman.

The Hilux Vigo helped Toyota overtake Isuzu in September 2005 after Isuzu had held the lead position in the category for 23 years.

When PPVs were included, Isuzu also outpaced Toyota in September with a total of 10,255 pickup units sold to 9,652 by Toyota. However, Toyota remained in first place for the first nine months of the year, outselling Isuzu in all pickup categories by 104,508 units to 95,989.

Third-ranked Nissan sold 18,453 units in the first nine months, followed by Mitsubishi (14,663), Chevrolet (7,339), Mazda (5,574), Ford (5,904) and the Indian newcomer Tata (119).