Crowded street in Bangkok, Thailand (Source: www.plugincars.com)Bangkok (VNA) – The Federation ofThai Industries (FTI) has increased its projection for domestic car sales thisyear to 850,000 cars, a rise of 10.6 percent against the previous year and upfrom its previous prediction of 830,000.
FTI said that the domestic market will witnessstrong growth at year’s end, with the international motor expo stimulatingsales in the remaining months. Up to 170,000 cars are expected to be sold inthe period.
FTI’s forecast also showed that the local carmarket 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 to68,551 units.
Car sales in Thailand increased by 11.7 percentto 689,266 units from January to October. All car segments recorded stronggrowth, except pickup passenger vehicles and commercial trucks.
Meanwhile, car exports dropped by 6.3 percentyear-on-year to 940,820 units since the start of this year with total value of 499.2billion THB (15.35 billion USD), a 6.6 percent decrease.
Car exports of Thailand to Oceania and NorthAmerica remain strong with 31.4 percent and 9.4 percent respectively while shipmentsto Asia fell by nine percent to 249,817 cars.
Thailand made 1.64 million cars in the firstten months of 2017, up 0.2 percent year-on-year. Total vehicle output of thecountry is estimated to hit 1.95 million units this year, higher than theprevious forecast of 1.93 million.-VNA
