Toyota Motor called on the Thai military government to introduce measures to stimulate the domestic vehicle market during a meeting in Bangkok this week.
The domestic market declined by 38% to 579,243 units in the first eight months of 2014, following the expiry of first-time buyer incentives at the end of 2012 and also due to the recent political crisis, which culminated in a military coup in May.
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Exports have hardly compensated for this decline, with total volumes rising by less than 2% to 742,382 units year-to-date.
Thai Industry Minister Chakramon Phasukvanich said after the meeting his government is focused on improving overall economic growth which should help the domestic vehicle market recover next year.
For this year, the Minister expects total vehicle production in the country to reach 2m units, compared with 2.46m units last year.
At the meeting, Toyota also urged the Thai government to revise the maximum weight limit of pickup trucks to 2.2t from the current 1.6t, which it says would help increase the potential of Thai pickup trucks in some export markets.
