Thai Market Nearing Bottom

The Thai auto industry’s long death spiral finally may be bottoming out, with October sales down just 4.1% to 67,910 units.

Limiting the decline was the commercial-vehicle market, climbing a healthy 7.2% to 43,637 units.

Toyota Thailand, which collates data for the local industry, says sales continue to be dragged down by the passenger-vehicle segment, falling 19.5% in October to 24,273 units.

The result left the 10-month total down 13.6% at 621,742 units. The passenger-vehicle segment is off 21.4% to 238,732 units, while the CV market is down 7.8% at 383,010.

Despite the slowdown in red ink, Vudhigorn Suriyachantananont, Toyota Thailand assistant senior managing director, says the overall auto market continues to be affected by high household debt and consumer cautioun about spending.

This is reflected in a new analysis of the 2016 outlook by the Federation of Thai Industries’ Automotive Industry Club.

Spokesman Surapong Paisitpatnapong tells The Nation newspaper the industry is expecting only slight growth next year, because people are worried about their future incomes and persistently high household debt.

Full-year sales for 2015 are forecast at just 750,000 units, down from 800,000 in 2014.

“Car sales this year have not really improved, and this may continue through next year as the government plans to increase car taxes,” Surapong says.

Still, Vudhigorn is looking for some market expansion this month.

He says the government has approved a short-term economic stimulus plan that focuses on helping low-income earners and includes incentives to accelerate private-sector investment.

“This is expected to have a positive effect on the confidence of consumers and businesses,” he says in a statement. “The launch of new models, the continuation of promotional activities (and) the restructuring of vehicle excise duty are all positive factors in stimulating the car market.”

Toyota led the October result with sales down 14.2% to 23 043 units. Isuzu followed, down 13.9% to 10,727, with Honda up 9.8% and closing in at 9,699.

The passenger-vehicle market saw Toyota down 30.7% at 8,616 units, ahead of Honda, down 22.7% to 6,522, and Mazda, up 31.9% at 2,319.

Toyota led the CV market, down 0.1% at 14 427 units, with Isuzu was off 13.0% to 10,727 and Mitsubishi rose 34.0% to 4,896. Within this, the 1-ton pickup segment rose 3.7% to 35,474 units with Toyota up 3.1% to 13,941 and Isuzu down 14.4% to 9,562.

Ford led the non-Japanese segment with October sales up a healthy 21.2% to 3,457 units. Chevrolet also was back in the black with sales for the month up 8.3% to 1,713.