Vehicle production is likely to come in at only two million vehicles in 2014, down from 2.45 million the previous year, largely because of a slowdown in domestic demand, the automotive industry club of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said on Wednesday.
The assembly line for the Mazda 2 Eco-car for Thai market at the AAT plant in Rayong province. (Bangkok Post file photo)
The FTI has repeatedly lowered its poroduction projection from 2.4 million set early in the year.
Spokesman Surapong Paisitpatanapong said about 900,000 units would be produced for the local market, while the export forecast was for 1.12-1.13 million vehicles.
At two million units, this would be about 18.4% below production in 2013 --1.33 million units for local markets and 1.12 million units shipped to foreign buyers.
The club hopes that the domestic market would recover in late November to December as stimulated by a big motor show event.
In October, the club reported the production at 159,000 units, down 13.7% from the same month in 2013.
Automobile sales in October totalled 70,000 units, down 20% year-on-year, with exports of 93,000 units, a drop for the third month in a row.
For the ten-month period, production was at 1.56 million units, a decrease of 25.86% compared to the same period last year.