Thailand's new vehicle market continued to expand strongly in April, with sales rising by 25.2% to 79,206 units from 63,267 units in the same month of last year, according to data released by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
This followed a strong first quarter and brought the four month cumulative total to 316,267 units, up by 15.5% on the 273,757 sales achieved in the equivalent period of last year.
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The Thai economy has continued to strengthen this year, with preliminary government data showing GDP growth at a higher than expected 4.8% in the first quarter driven by rising domestic consumption, investment and export growth.
Replacement demand is also rising strongly as a result of the end of the five year lock in period for tax rebates for most buyers of vehicles under the previous government's first-time buyer incentive programme which drove the market to an unsustainable 1.43m units in 2012.
Toyota's sales jumped by more than 30% to 23,223 units in April, followed by Isuzu with a 21.9% rise to 14,764 units; Honda 10,434 (+25.0%); Mitsubishi 6,351 (+30.6%); Ford 5,181 (+33.9%); Mazda 4,419 (+5.1%); and Nissan 4,672 (+13.3%).
