New vehicle sales in Thailand amounted to 74,114 units in October 2020, according to wholesale data compiled by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), representing a more than 4% decline compared with the 77,121 sales reported previously for the same month of last year.
The market decline has slowed significantly in the last few months, albeit against weak year earlier volumes, following much sharper falls earlier in the year. Day to day economic activity has slowly normalised after the government eased social and business restrictions towards the end of the second quarter.
The economy is still under pressure from weak private consumption and investment, however, while business and consumer confidence remains weak.
Export demand is under pressure from continuing lockdowns in many key overseas markets while the travel and tourism sector is depressed due to restrictions on foreign tourism. GDP fell by 6.4% in the third quarter, compared with a more than 12% decline in the second quarter.
Total vehicle sales in the first 10 months of 2020 were down by over 26% at 617,333 units from 838,968 units in the same period of last year.
Vehicle production in the country fell by 2.2% to 149,360 units in October and by over 35% to 1,112,427 units in the 10 month period.
