Thailand's new vehicle market continued to expand strongly in March, with sales rising by 12.1% to 95,082 units from 84,801 units a year earlier, according to data released by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
This follows double-digit growth in the previous two months and brings first-quarter sales to 237,061, up by 12.6% on the 210,490 units sold in the same period of last year.
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The Thai economy continues to expand strongly, driven by rising exports and growing domestic consumption. The latest government data shows GDP expanded by 4.0% in the fourth quarter of 2017 and by 3.9% over the full-year.
Toyota reported a 21.1% sales rise to 26,673 units last month, followed by Isuzu with a 16.2% increase to 18,811 units; Honda 10,197 (-19.2%); Mitsubishi 8,008 (+15.8%); Ford 6,772 (+23.4%); Mazda 6,646 (+32.5%); and Nissan 6,870 (+6.3%).
Vehicle exports increased by 4.7% to 110,946 units in March and by 4% to 295,230 units year-to-date.
Thailand vehicle sales increased by 13.4% to 871,650 units in 2017 – way ahead of industry forecasts – with demand accelerating markedly in the second half of the year.
Growth last year was driven by strong demand for passenger vehicles thanks to new model launches and the end of the lock-in period for tax rebates to vehicle buyers under the government's first-time buyer scheme over five years ago.
