The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) reported on Wednesday that automobile output in June increased by 7.71% to 188,970 units, driven by the production of pickup trucks for international markets, which rose by 5.87% to 64,342 units last month.
Production of passenger cars and pickup trucks for the local market in June also increased, by 18.48% and 21.84% to 46,221 and 44,097 vehicles respectively, according to Surapong Paisitpatanapong, spokesman of the FTI automotive industry club.
The output from January to June stood at 1.057 million vehicles, up by 11.1%
Domestic sales in June increased sharply by 25.9% to 87,854 units, which was also up by 3.4% month-on-month.
Mr Surapong said many factors have accelerated the market - the overall Thai economy, government spending, new investment by the private sector, launches of new car models, an increase in the consumer confidence index, a better construction sector, farm price recovery, healthy imports and exports figures, poverty reduction measures and a bullish tourism sentiment.
As a result of those factors, car sales from January to June totalled at 489,118 units, up by 19.3%.
Car exports in June increased slightly by 2.36% to 95,284 units, but the export value contracted by 1.03% to 49.147 billion baht.
He said sales to most destinations showed growth in June, and the Middle East in particular, thanks to the rise in oil prices. However, Oceania and European markets were in the red in June.
Car shipments over the first six months stood at 561,960 units, up by 4.76%, with a total value of 290.892 billion baht, up 2.59%