Thai vehicle sales rose 8.3% year-on-year in September, Toyota’s Thai unit was reported to have said on Wednesday.
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Sales increased to 53,491 vehicles last month, Toyota Motor Thailand, which compiles the industry statistics said in a statement cited by Agence France Press (AFP).
“Consumers are feeling more confident about spending money as political uncertainty is easing” ahead of the general election on 23 December, Toyota reportedly said. Improvement in the economy also helped lift auto sales.
But vehicle sales in the first nine months of the year nonetheless fell 7.6% from a year earlier to 451,326 vehicles, Toyota told AFP.
Toyota, Honda Motor and Isuzu Motors account for some 80% of the Thai market which has been hit hard by a prolonged slump in consumer confidence amid the political turmoil over former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the military in a bloodless coup last year, the report noted.
In August, Toyota Motor Thailand, the country’s largest auto maker, revised its forecast of overall domestic car sales this year down to 650,000 vehicles from 700,000, 4.7% lower than last year, AFP added.
