Krungsri Auto, an automotive lender under Bank of Ayudhya, has revised up its loan portfolio growth target to 17% this year after strong loan performance in the first half.
The target aims to drive the company's outstanding loan portfolio to 378 billion baht while maintaining its 25% market share in automotive finance.
The previous growth target was 7%.
In the first half, the company provided new lending worth 102.1 billion baht, up 31% year-on-year, driven by new auto loans, which grew by 41% year-on-year.
Outstanding loans reached 353 billion baht at the end of June, up 19% year-on-year, and exceeded the annual target of 345 billion.
"Thailand's automotive market grew consistently [in the first half], especially in new car sales and overall auto finance, which together expanded by 12% year-on-year to 309 billion baht," said Krungsri Auto Group head Pairote Cheunkrut.
In the first half, new car sales logged 489,000 units, a rise from 410,000 units from the first half of last year, while used car sales stood at 767,000 units, up from 734,000 units.
But sales of motorcycles and big bikes dropped to 935,000 units from 950,000 units.
"We expect auto finance in the second half will continue growing in all segments," Mr Pairote said. "Sales of motorcycles and big bikes are expected to rebound and turn annual average growth around to 1% from the negative figure logged in the first half."
He said industry sales are expected to grow by 12% for the whole year, with the new cars segment projected to reach 980,000 units and 1.47 million units for used car sales. For motorcycles, sales are expected to reach 1.83 million units.
"This will be the first year during the past five years where the auto finance industry is expected to break 610 billion baht," Mr Pairote said.
Krungsri Auto will also focus on building up customer experience via digital innovations, personalisation and partnership, he said.
Launched around five years ago, the company has a digital platform where customers can submit auto loan applications and the company can preapprove them online.
New lending from the website application was valued at 900 million baht in the first half, while the full-year target is expected to be worth 1.8 billion in 2018, Mr Pairote said.
Krungsri Auto aims to keep non-performing loans (NPLs) for auto loans within 2%, and expects NPLs to be around 1.5%, he said.