Thailand's car market has performed well thus far in 2018, led by the 39th Bangkok International Motor Show, which recorded bookings growth for the first time in six years.
SET-listed auto show organiser Grand Prix International Plc (GPI) reported the auto show, which ended on Sunday, had bookings of 36,587 units, up by 18% last year.
Some 1.62 million visitors entered the 14-day auto show at Impact Muang Thong Thani, down from 1.65 million in 2017.
Jaturont Komolmis, GPI's chief operating officer, said the company is confident its total car bookings will result in positive momentum for the car market over the remaining months of this year.
"All car distributors offered attractive sales campaigns and hire-purchasing loans for car buyers, which created a highly competitive market at the auto show," he said.
GPI also reported Toyota had the highest car bookings with 5,689 units. Honda came in second with 5,133 bookings while Mazda was ranked third with 5,021 cars.
Isuzu and Mercedes-Benz were fourth and fifth with 3,920 and 2,297 bookings, respectively.
Battery electric vehicles booked 354 units, all from FOMM, which the manufacturer plans to deliver early next year.
The motor show had record-high bookings in 2012 of 57,058 units, propelled by the tax rebate programme for first-time car buyers.
In 2013, bookings dropped to 40,834 units, then 39,415 in 2014 and 37,027 in 2015.
The motor show recorded 32,571 car bookings in 2016 before falling to 31,000 in 2017.
Nonetheless, Surapong Paisitpatanapong, spokesman for the automotive industry club of the Federation of Thai Industries, said the bookings at the auto show indicate the overall market will hit over 900,000 cars sold in 2018, up by 3.3%.
The club reported local car sales rose by 13% to 142,011 cars sold from January to February.
A key factor is the expiry of the five-year car ownership lock-up period under the first-time car buyer scheme, which is expected to encourage car owners to purchase new cars.
He cited research from Siam Commercial Bank Economic Intelligence Center that projected 7.2% of the 1.1 million people who took part in the first-time car buyer scheme will replace their cars.
"The club believes that most Thai buyers prefer cars below 800,000 baht, which is the largest volume in the market," said Mr Surapong.
"Moreover, this projection assumes an average income for Thais of US$6,000 [187,640 baht] per head per year, and an economic growth rate of 4.1%.
"Car sales in March alone are expected to reach 85,000 units. When combined with sales from the previous two months, sales in the first quarter this year will stand at 227,000 cars, up by 7.8% from the same period in 2017."
In addition, positive momentum was seen in Thailand's motorcycle market, with 5,912 motorcycles sold at the auto show, a sharp rise of 104% from last year.
Honda led with the highest bookings of 2,628 motorcycles, while Yamaha came in second with 737 units and Kawasaki was third with 554 units.
The organiser reported motorcycles bookings of 2,892 units from the latest auto show.
Mr Surapong said overall economic sentiment in the country has improved, led by a recovery in local consumption, private sector investment and new infrastructure projects initiated by the government.