German luxury-car maker BMW Group Thailand remains optimistic about growth for the year despite declining sales in the first seven months.
"Monthly sales in June and July have returned to positive figures, indicating that the performance will be on course to strong growth in the remaining months," said president Matthias Pfalz.
Sales rose 9.7% year-on-year to 691 units after increasing 22.3% in June to 718 units.
However, for the first seven months, the company's total car sales were down 2% from the same period last year to 4,411 units. BMW sold 3,950 units, down 7% for the period, but Mini sales surged 75% to 461 cars. Its big-bike BMW Motorrad also rose 19% to 277 motorcycles.
"The environment in the country has changed, it is more stable and people are more confident about spending their money," he said.
Last year, the group reported record sales, with 8,147 BMW and Mini deliveries, a rise of 33% from the previous record year, 2012, marking the second-highest growth rate within the BMW Group worldwide, following Brazil.
BMW Motorrad, meanwhile, reported robust sales growth of 38% last year, shifting 400 units.
"Unlike the mass market where sales are expected to decline significantly this year, luxury car demand remains strong," Mr Pfalz said.
BMW said in July this year it was spending 385 million baht to expand its Thai plant and upgrade its logistics system to support the growing domestic market.
The new investment will go mainly to expand production of passenger cars and motorcycles at Rayong's Amata City Industrial Estate.
The company plans to raise production of passenger cars to 10,000 vehicles in 2015 from 8,880 this year, with the motorcycle segment set to churn out 1,000 units next year.