Car sales suffer amid uncertainty
Car sales in Thailand are expected to continue a decline this month amid domestic political uncertainty about a new government and its policies, says Toyota Motor Thailand.
The country held a general election on May 14, and even though the Move Forward Party won the most seats in the House of Representatives and forged an alliance with seven other parties, it remains unclear if it can successfully set up a coalition government.
The Move Forward Party is jousting with the Pheu Thai Party, which finished a close second, over the House speaker position, according to media reports.
The uncertainty is affecting people’s buying decisions as they want to know the economic policies of the new government and when it will be established, said Suphakorn Rattanawaraha, vice-president of Toyota Motor Thailand.
“Domestic car sales in May are expected to decrease as people delay their car purchases,” he said.
In April, domestic sales volume decreased by 6.14% year-on-year to 59,530 cars because of banks’ strict criteria in screening loan requests amid high household debt, according to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
During the first four months of this year, car sales dipped by 6.11% year-onyear to 276,603.
Surapong Paisitpatanapong, vicechairman of the FTI and spokesman for the FTI’s Automotive Industry Club, said earlier he believes a newly established government will increase the confidence of commercial banks and financial institutions, relieving their concerns over granting loans to car buyers.
Toyota Motor Thailand reported a decline in domestic car sales last month by 9.8% year-on-year to 19,565 units, yet still commanded the largest market share at 32.9%.
Coming second was Isuzu, with a market share of 22.4%. Isuzu recorded a year-on-year drop of 19.6% for car sales with 13,336 units.
Honda, another Japanese carmaker, reported car sales increased by 25.5% year-on-year to 6,409 cars in April, with a market share of 10.8%.