FTI reports sunnier car sales

Thailand’s car market is showing clear signs of recovery, as indicated by higher sales for a second straight month in February.

The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) reported yesterday that domestic car sales rose by 19.9% year-on-year last month to 68,435 units. On a monthly basis, the figure increased 19.5% from 57,254 units in January.

The passenger car segment rose by 59.8% year-on-year to 26,702 units, thanks to active launches of new and reintroduced models by carmakers.

Sales of pickup trucks and big trucks also rose by 15% and 12.3% to 30,348 and 2,300 units respectively.

For the first two months, domestic car sales amounted to 125,689 units, up by 15.4% from the same period last year.

Surapong Paisitpatanapong, a spokesman for the FTI’s automotive club, said the club is very satisfied with the recovery of the country’s car market, which was gloomy during 2013-16.

“This indicates that the Thai economy’s growth has delivered a positive impact to the car industry,” he said. “Although the country’s household debt remains relatively high at 80% of GDP, the 20% rejection rate for car loans by financial institution is acceptable.”

The past several years, the rejection rate stood at an average 30%.

Mr Surapong said the upcoming 38th edition of Bangkok International Motor Show 2017, which will run from March 29 to April 9, is expected to help generate around 35,000 new car sales scheduled to be delivered during the second quarter.

Motorcycles also reported good sales in February. The FTI’s figures showed sales rose 14.3% year-on-year in February to 150,525 units. For two months, sales stood at 297,749 units, up by 1.9% from the same period last year.

Mr Surapong said he is quite confident that the domestic car sales will manage to grow 4.1% this year to 800,000 units, the first expansion in five years.

The club reported car output dropped by 7.2% last month to 154,496 units thanks largely to shrinking exports. Nonetheless, the monthly output rose marginally 1.5% from January.

The output over the first two months stood at 306,757 vehicles, down 2.3% from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the FTI reported vehicles exports fell 6.2% in February to 98,237 units, a contraction for the eighth consecutive month. Export values also fell by 6.7% from the same month last year to 51.89 billion baht.

Exports over the first two months totalled 178,334 vehicles, down 10.1%, with value down 12.1% at 93.32 billion baht.