A man checks out a Porsche at a motor show in Bangkok. Car-buying sentiment is expected to improve slightly during the year-end period. JIRAPORN KUHAKAN
In spite of improving sentiment in the country's automotive market, domestic sales are expected to stay flat or rise slightly this year, hovering in a range of 790,000-800,000 units.
Kwanchai Paphatphong, president of Inter-Media Consultant Co, the organiser of the Thailand International Motor Expo, said car sales will pick up in the fourth quarter as it is traditionally the high season for car and motorcycle purchases.
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) reported last month that car sales rose 2.7% year-on-year in September to 63,516 units, marking growth for two consecutive months. The bump was largely fuelled by passenger car sales, which grew 14.5% last month to 25,857 units, while pickup truck sales rose 4.6% to 26,454 units.
Domestic sales from January to September rose slightly by 0.5% to 556,400 vehicles.
Despite the uptick in sales, the FTI remains cautious about the domestic car market's prospects, particularly in the last quarter, in light of His Majesty the King's passing.
It expects the market to continue feeling the effects in the short term before returning to normal.
Mr Kwanchai said Thailand's domestic car sales are expected to recover next year thanks to the expiry of the five-year ownership conditions under the previous government's first-time car buyer scheme.
The fading effects of the scheme, which ended in 2012, saw sales fall by 7.4% to 1.33 million vehicles in 2013 before dropping further to 881,832 in 2014.
Last year's domestic car sales fell by 9.3% to 799,592 vehicles, according to the FTI.
Meanwhile, Inter-Media Consultant Co is set to hold the 33rd Thailand International Motor Expo 2016 from Dec 1-12 at Impact Muang Thong Thani.
The 12-day auto show is projected to secure bookings of 50,000 units of vehicles and 4,000 units of big bikes. Some 1.5 million visitors are expected, with an estimated 50 billion baht to be circulated.
Mr Kwanchai said he is quite upbeat about bookings prospects for car sales this year after last year's show saw bookings fall by 7.4% to 39,125 cars, attracting 1.48 million visitors and circulating 50 billion baht. But bookings for big bikes rose last year 112% to 5,749 units.
Mr Kwanchai is less optimistic about big bikes this year, however, citing stiffer competition.
The auto show hit an all-time booking high in 2012 at 85,904 cars and 76 billion baht circulated.
No comments:
Post a Comment