New vehicle sales in Thailand continued to fall in December 2022, by 9% year on year to 82,799 units according to local reports citing the latest wholesale data just released by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
This followed a 5% decline in November and was blamed on localised flooding due to heavier than usual monsoon rains and continued shortages of semiconductors which has affected the operations of some local automakers.
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The country’s economy remained strong, driven by a return of international tourism earlier in the year, with third quarter GDP expanding 4.5% year on year thanks to strong domestic consumption. Bank of Thailand raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to 1.25% last year.
Over the full year, domestic vehicle sales increased almost 12% to 849,388 units from 759,119 units in 2021, driven mainly by strong demand for pickup trucks.
Vehicle production increased 3% to 158,606 units in December, and by almost 12% to 1,883,515 units last year, while exports rose 10% to 111,605 units last month.
