FTI sees rosy outlook for car sales as gloom lifts

The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has increased its projection for domestic car sales this year, saying market sentiment has improved more than expected.

Yesterday, the FTI’s automotive industry club estimated that the Thai car market will see 850,000 units sold this year, up 10.6% from 2016 and a slight improvement on the previous forecast of 830,000.

Spokesman Surapong Paisitpatanapong said the club is confident the final quarter will be peak season for car sales in the local market, with the Thailand International Motor Expo stimulating sales in the final two months.

Mr Surapong expects 160,000170,000 in car sales during that period.

“This is the first year the local car market has picked up after contractions over the past four years,” he said.

The club also reported that car sales in October, while rising 13.1% from the same period of last year to 68,551 units, declined 11.7% from September, when 77,592 units were sold.

Mr Surapong said recent floods in the Northeast and South may have hurt car market sentiment.

But the overall outlook remains healthy, he said, with the launch of several new car models and promising signs for the economy.

Car sales from January to October rose by 11.7% to 689,266 units. All car segments showed strong growth, except pickup passenger vehicles and commercial trucks, which remained in the red over the first 10 months.

Car exports in October fell by 12% to 90,838 units, while shipment value dropped by 7.7% to 49.8 billion baht.

Vehicle exports from January to October fell by 6.3% to 940,820 units with a total value of 499.2 billion baht — a 6.6% drop.

Mr Surapong said overall car shipments remain fragile, despite a modest rise in August and September.

Exports to Oceania and North America are still healthy, respectively accounting for 31.4% and 9.4% of total vehicle shipments.

Exports to Asia, accounting for 26.5% of the total, declined by 9% to 249,817 cars from January to October.

Car output increased by 1.5% to 163,487 units in October but declined by 14.1% compared with September.

Thailand made 1.64 million cars from January to October, up 0.2%.

Higher projected demand has the club estimating total vehicle output of 1.95 million units this year, up from an earlier estimate of 1.93 million.