New vehicle sales in Thailand continued to recover in January with sales jumping by 16.2% to 66,513 units from 57,254 units a year earlier, according to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
This followed a 13.4% rise to 871,650 units last year after four years of decline from peak levels of 1.43m units in 2012.
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The latest government data showed the economy remained strong in the fourth quarter of 2017 with GDP growth of 4% – lifting full year growth to 3.9%.
Consumer sentiment continued to be underpinned by low interest rates and a stable political environment while exports also contributed significantly to GDP growth last year.
Vehicle sales are also being boosted by tax rebates from the previous government's first time buyers' programme from over five years ago.
The FTI expects vehicle sales to exceed 900,000 units this year while some vehicle manufacturers are slightly more optimistic. Mazda expects industry volume to rise over 5% to 920,000 units.
Thai vehicle exports also increased last month, by 2.5% to 82,067 vehicles.
