FTI wants car scheme rule relaxed to increase sales

The government is being urged to ease a condition of the first-time car buyer scheme that requires buyers to maintain ownership of the vehicle for their own use for at least five years.

Surapong Paisitpatanapong, spokesman of the Federation of Thai Industries’ (FTI) automotive industry club, said cutting the ownership period to three years would boost car sales and consumption.

“Buyers can sell their own cars to pay debt or buy other essential consumer products or even new cars,” he said. “This will boost the overall economic system.”

People who applied for the scheme at the Excise Department before the end of 2012 qualified for a tax rebate of up to 100,000 baht after they had owned their car for a year.

The scheme was applicable to cars with engines no bigger than 1,500cc or to pickup trucks priced no more than 1 million baht with engines bigger than 1,500cc.

About 1.24 million people applied for tax rebates worth 91.1 billion baht.

Car sales crested in 2012 and 2013 at 1.45 million and 1.33 million, respectively, before falling by 33.7% last year to 881,832.

Mr Surapong said as many as 112,000 buyers would be ready to sell their cars bought under the scheme if the condition on ownership was eased.

The proposal will be submitted to the new cabinet soon.

In a related development, the FTI yesterday reported car output in July rose by 9.6% to 165,863 vehicles, driven mainly by new pickup trucks and eco-cars.

Output in the first seven months reached 1.1 million vehicles, slightly down by 0.21% year-on-year. Domestic car sales, however, fell by 12.5% in July to 60,863, up by 0.9% from June.

In the first seven months, car sales stood at 429,972, down by 15.8%.

Car exports rose by 11.52% in July to 102,359 units, with shipment value increasing by 13% to 49.46 billion baht.

Mr Surapong said domestic car sales this year would reach 750,000 to 800,000, with exports unchanged at 1.2 million vehicles.

The Thai Industries Sentiment Index fell in July for the seventh straight month to 83 points, down from 84 in June, the FTI reported.