ASEAN auto demand is forecast to continue rising in the rest of this year, despite the saturation of the market, according to a survey by the Financial Times’ Confidential Research.
Hanoi (VNA) – ASEAN auto demandis forecast to continue rising in the rest of this year, despite the saturationof the market, according to a survey by the Financial Times’ ConfidentialResearch (FTCR) for the region in the first quarter of this year.
In quarter one, the Auto PurchaseIndex (API), which measures the six-month outlook for auto sales, is positivefor Indonesia and Thailand, but negative for Malaysia, the Philippines andVietnam.
Indonesia enjoyed a 6 percentrise year on year in auto sales, while Thailand saw a 15.9 percent increaseyear on year.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s API fellslightly, mostly because consumers delayed purchases until 2018 when the ASEANFree Trade Agreement will eliminate tariffs on imported autos. Sales growth slowedto single digits after soaring by 29.4 percent in 2016 and 56.7 percent in2015. However, experts said that the index will recover in the second half of2017 and thrive in 2018.
At the same time, Malaysia saw a decreasein API, but enjoyed a 7.3 percent rise in auto sales from the same period lastyear.
In the Philippines, sales rose 23percent in the first quarter after a 24.6 percent increase in 2016. However,auto demand in the country may start declining this year, said the survey.
In the first quarter, theMotorcycle Purchase Index fell in almost all of the above-mentioned SoutheastAsian markets except for Malaysia. Experts predicted that sales for the wholeregion will decline for the year due to the sluggish market in Indonesia, whichaccounts for half of all sales in the five ASEAN countries in 2016.
FTCR also said that the middleclass in the region will help boost auto sales, while the motorcycle market isincreasingly saturated.-VNA
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Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)
