Mitsubishi Motors has warned of further falls in demand for new cars in Thailand following the ending of subsidies for first-time buyers last year.
The carmaker has three vehicle plants in Thailand and plans to compensate for the drop in demand by exporting vehicles to other countries within ASEAN and possibly Australia, Yoshihiro Kuroi, a senior executive officer told a news conference.
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Carmakers in Thailand are experiencing order cancellations after the government ended subsidies, he added. The move came as vehicle production was being ramped up as the country, a regional vehicle manufacturing and export base, was bouncing back from the impact of floods that hit the Bangkok area late in 2011 [wiping out a since-rebuilt Honda plant in the process – ed].
Mitsubishi’s Thai sales in April-June dropped 24% year on year to around 20,800 vehicles. That compares with a 1% drop in Thailand’s industry-wide vehicle sales in April-June.
The company has revised down its estimates for industry-wide sales for the fiscal year to 31 March 2014 to around 1.1m or 1.2m vehicles, Kuroi said.
