The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) announced that in May this year, new car sales in Thailand increased slightly by 5% year-on-year to 52,229 units, a rebound from the sluggish performance of 49,871 units in the same period last year.
Image source: Isuzu
This is the second consecutive month of growth in new car sales in Thailand, following two years of financing difficulties for high-debt consumers and small businesses in Thailand as banks and auto finance companies tighten credit standards in response to a surge in non-performing loansCar salesIt has also declined sharply. Last year, new car sales in Thailand fell 26% year-on-year to 572,675 units, a 15-year low.
In May, the main driver of new car sales growth in Thailand came from strong sales of pure electric vehicles, mainly due to Chinese automakers.Gasso Automotive Research InstituteAccording to the data, China exported a total of 9,873 passenger cars to Thailand that month, of which 8,183 were pure electric vehicles. Under the Thai government’s EV3.0 investment incentive program, Chinese car companies are gradually increasing local production in Thailand to replace previous imports. However, pickup truck sales in Thailand continued to decline sharply that month.
In the first five months of this year, new car sales in Thailand fell slightly by 3% year-on-year, from 260,365 units in the same period last year to 252,615 units; Among them, pickup truck sales decreased by 17% year-on-year to 62,467 units; Passenger pickup truck sales were 15,365 units (down 7% year-on-year); Passenger cars with internal combustion engines sold 62,553 units (down 11% year-on-year); Hybrid model sales were 55,374 units (down 6% year-on-year). And pureElectric vehicleSales increased by 23% y/y to 53,955 units.
It is worth mentioning that the Thai government is considering introducing scrapping incentives to encourage owners to trade in pickup trucks. Earlier this year, the Thai government launched a 5 billion baht loan guarantee program, which will last until the end of this year and is designed to support local small and medium-sized enterprises in Thailand to purchase pickup trucks. However, so far, this plan has not had a significant effect on pickup sales.
Surapong Paisitpatanapong, vice chairman of the FTI Automobile Industry Club, supported the Thai government’s end-of-life incentive proposal and said, “We support the pickup trade-in program, which will increase sales by 50,000 to 100,000 units. In fact, it would be even better if the Thai government extended this measure to passenger cars. ”
Although Thailand in the first 5 months of this yearAutomotive productionIt fell 8% year-on-year to 594,492 units, but Thailand remains the largest automobile producer in the ASEAN region; Thailand’s car exports in the first five months of this year fell 10% year-on-year to 390,095 units due to weak overseas demand, increased competition from Chinese automakers and tightening carbon emission regulations in some major markets.
FTI predicted in May this year that in 2025, Thai cars will be sold for the whole yearyieldIt will drop to 1.4 million units, down from the 1.5 million units forecast at the beginning of this year. In comparison, Thailand’s vehicle production in 2023 was 1.84 million units. It is worth noting that current automakers and auto parts suppliers are also facing additional pressure from new import tariffs in the United States.
