Domestic car sales in Thailand rose in April rose for the first time in 23 months, the Federation of Thai Industries said on Thursday, though production and exports extended their run of declines.
Local sales were up 1% in April from a year earlier, after a fall of 0.54% fall in March, the group said.
“Sales increased from passenger cars, but sales of pickup trucks decreased because financing was still tight,” said Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesperson for the FTI’s automotive industry division.
Car production fell 0.4% in April from a year earlier to 104,250 units, the FTI said. The fall followed a 6.1% year-on-year drop in March, and was the 21st straight month that production had declined.
“Truck production has decreased by 33%, which clearly shows that our home economy is weak,” Mr Surapong said.
Car exports fell 6.3% in April from a year earlier, a smaller contraction than 14.9% in the previous month.
Thailand is Southeast Asia’s biggest autos production centre and an export base for some of the world’s top carmakers, including Toyota, Honda and China’s BYD.