Domestic car sales in Thailand fall 17.2% in December

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Domestic car sales in Thailand fall 17.2% in December

BANGKOK - Domestic car sales in Thailand fell 17.2 per cent in December from a year earlier in the year and dropped 4.2 per cent in the whole of 2021, due to the shortage of microchips and coronaviruses, according to the Federation of Thai Industries FTI on Monday. 86,145 units were sold in December and 759,119 vehicles in all 2021, slightly above target, the FTI said.

Surapong Paisitpattanapong, a FTI spokeswoman for FTI's automotive industry division, said in 2022 that the FTI still forecasts 800,000 to 850,000 vehicles or a rise of 5.4 per cent to 12 per cent.

Thailand is a regional vehicle production and export base for the world's top carmakers, including Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi.

The industry accounts for about 10 per cent of Thailand's gross domestic product and manufacturing jobs.

In December, the FTI said that the car exports increased by 48 per cent from a year earlier, and rose by 30.4 per cent in the whole of 2021. It predicts that the car exports will increase by 4.3 per cent to 1 million vehicles in 2022.