Domestic car sales in Thailand may drop 5.3 percent this year. (Photo: Bangkok Post)Hanoi (VNA) – Domestic car sales in Thailand may drop 5.3 percentthis year, after a 21.4 percent slump last year, amid a recent outbreak of thecoronavirus, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said on January 20.
Sales are targeted at750,000 cars in 2021 after 792,146 vehicles sold last year, the FTI said.
Thailand is a regionalvehicle production and export base for the world’s top carmakers.
Car production is expectedat 1.5 million vehicles this year, half of which would be exported and theother half sold domestically. That compares to the 1.43 million produced lastyear.
Spokesman of the FTI’s automotive industry division Surapong Paisitpattanapongsaid the FTI is still worried about second of third coronavirus waves in somecountries while Thailand has a second wave.
There is also a chips shortage, making some carmakers stop productiontemporarily. Therefore, car exports may not grow this year, he added.
Car exports plunged 30.19percent last year.
The FTI’s Thai industriessentiment index fell in December for the first time in eight months due toconcerns over the outbreak and the state of the Thai and global economies./.
