Thai car sales jump in April but new outbreak a worry

BANGKOK: Thailand's domestic car sales surged 93.07per cent in April from a year earlier, coming off a very low base last year when the country was in a strict lockdown to fight a coronavirus outbreak, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said on Thursday.

But sales dropped to 58,132 cars last month, when a third, more severe wave of infections struck Thailand, from 74,295 cars sold in March.

Thailand is a regional vehicle production and export base for the world's top carmakers.

"Our domestic sales target of 750,000 cars this year is still possible, but the outbreak must not continue for a long time," Surapong Paisitpattanapong, a spokesman of the FTI's automotive industry division, told a briefing.

In April, car exports surged 160.16per cent year-on-year to 52,880 vehicles, helped by a low base last year and higher global demand, and are likely to beat a target this year, he said.

The FTI's car production target this year of 1.5 million units, half of which for export, could still be exceeded, Surapong said, adding global outbreaks and a microchip shortage for car production remained negative factors, however.

In the January-April period, domestic sales rose 9.6per cent year-on-year to 252,269 vehicles while car exports increased 14.9per cent to 310,988 units, the FTI said.

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring, Satawasin Staporncharnchai and Kitiphong Thaichareon; Editing by Martin Petty)