Crowded street in Bangkok, Thailand (Source: www.plugincars.com) Bangkok (VNA) – The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has increased its projection for domestic car sales this year to 850,000 cars, a rise of 10.6 percent against the previous year and up from its previous prediction of 830,000.
FTI said that the domestic market will witness strong growth at year’s end, with the international motor expo stimulating sales in the remaining months. Up to 170,000 cars are expected to be sold in the period.
FTI’s forecast also showed that the local car market of Thailand has recovered after sales decline over the past four years. In October, car sales rose 13.1 percent from the same period last year to 68,551 units.
Car sales in Thailand increased by 11.7 percent to 689,266 units from January to October. All car segments recorded strong growth, except pickup passenger vehicles and commercial trucks.
Meanwhile, car exports dropped by 6.3 percent year-on-year to 940,820 units since the start of this year with total value of 499.2 billion THB (15.35 billion USD), a 6.6 percent decrease.
Car exports of Thailand to Oceania and North America remain strong with 31.4 percent and 9.4 percent respectively while shipments to Asia fell by nine percent to 249,817 cars.
Thailand made 1.64 million cars in the first ten months of 2017, up 0.2 percent year-on-year. Total vehicle output of the country is estimated to hit 1.95 million units this year, higher than the previous forecast of 1.93 million.-VNA
