Car sales down 11% y/y

Car sales down 11% y/y

Car sales fell in October year-on-year, totalling at 77,121 units, down by 11.3% on the same month in 2018, the Federation of Thai Industries announced on Wednesday.

It was the fifth month in a row year-on-year sales have been down.

FTI automotive industry club spokesman Surapong Paisitpatanapong said loan rejection was a key factor pressuring sales from June to September. Flooding in provinces also reduced people's purchasing power.

However, the October sales increased by 1.2% from September this year.

Car exports in October totalled at 85,552 units, down by 8.34% year-on-year. Shipments value for the period stood at 46.07 billion baht, down  4.99%.

Mr Surapong said car exports last month dropped to all regions except Asia, the Mideast and Central and South America.

Thailand's car output for October was down 22.52% to 152,787 vehicles.

FTI downgraded the country's full-year car production estimate for 2019 from the previous 2.15 million to 2 million units, blaming bearish sentiment in both local sales and exports.

Local car sales projections for 2019 have been cut from 1.05 million to 1 million units, and exports for the full year from 1.1 million earlier to 1 million.

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