Published on 22/10/2010
Vehicle production heads for new high The local automobile industry continued to grow unabated throughout the first nine months of this year as production, domestic sales and exports all soared. Domestic automobile sales in nine months to September rose 51.8% year-on-year to 556,349 units thanks to the recovering economy as a result of government stimulus spending, better farm product prices, higher exports overall and improved tourism, said Surapong Phaisitpattanapong, spokesman for the Federation of Thai Industries' automobile industry club. More importantly, he said, consumer confidence has rebounded for several consecutive months. Toyota Motor Thailand president Kyoichi Tanada said nationwide sales were now expected to shoot up to a record 770,000 to 780,000 units this year from 750,000 estimated a few months ago. Heavy floods in some provinces at the moment will have only a minor impact on the market since the water will soon recede, he said. According to Mr Surapong, exports also kept growing in every market and region. Total automobile exports from January to September jumped 82.75% year-on-year to 664,829 units worth 306.9 billion baht, up 80%.
Published on 22/10/2010
The significant growth of domestic sales and exports pushed local output up 83.7% year-on-year to 1.197 million units in the first nine months. The FTI estimated automobile production for the remaining three months at 413,023 units. Vehicle output as a result is expected to reach a new high of 1.61 million units this year. By segment in the first three quarters, the production of passenger cars jumped 87.3% to 391,931 units due mainly to the continued strong demand for fuel-efficient small cars, while that of pickup trucks rose 82.5% to 788,919 units. Mr Surapong said motorcycle sales for the nine-month period also increased 23.4% to 1.40 million units while exports surged 39.2% to 552,633 units worth 17.32 billion baht, and production expanded 32.8% to 1.95 million units. Production of motorcycles for the last three months was estimated at 478,347 units, bringing the total output this year to 2.43 million units.