Thailand's new vehicle market continued to grow strongly in June with sales rising by 25.9% to 87,854 units from 69,797 units in the same month of last year, according to data released by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
Federation spokesman Surapong Paisitpatanapong attributed the strong growth to broad-based economic growth in the country with rising private sector investment and government spending, buoyant farm prices, rising exports and strong consumer confidence, as well as recent new vehicle launches.
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Replacement vehicle demand has also increased sharply in the last year as most owners of vehicles bought under the previous government's first-time buyer incentive programme have been able to claim tax rebates equivalent to up to 10% of the purchase cost of their vehicles after a five year lock in period.
Around 1.4m vehicles were bought under this programme in just over two years, many of which were pickup trucks, lifting the market to an unsustainable 1.43m units in 2012.
Toyota's sales jumped by more than 55% to 27,746 units last month, followed by Isuzu with a 16.2% rise to 12,947 units; Honda 10,549 (-18.1%); Mitsubishi 7,172 (+28.5%); Mazda 6,707 (+61.1%); Nissan 6,371 (+28.9%); and Ford 5,001 (+11.5%).
Sales in the first six months of the year increased by 19.3% to 489,118 units compared with 409,976 units in the same period of last year.
Exports also increased in June, by 2.4% to 95,284 units, driven by strong demand from the Middle East and by 4.8% to 561,960 units in the first half of the year.
Vehicle production increased by 7.7% to 188,970 units last month and by 11.1% to 1.057m units year to date.
