BANGKOK, 21 July 2011 – The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) expects that car production this year will reach the target of 1.8 million units after 810,510 units were manufactured in the first six months, rising by 5.4% year-on-year, despite the devastation of the twin catastrophes in Japan in March.
According to FTI Automotive Industry Club Spokesperson Surapong Paisitpatnapong, the car production volume is anticipated to be no less than 150,000 units per month from July onwards since Japan is currently able to export more auto parts. Moreover, the capacity is likely to increase to 2.5 million units in 2012 from 2 million this year.
Regarding domestic vehicle sales in June 2011, it was concluded at 70,259 units, an increase of 25.8% from May. Sales of passenger cars, especially eco-cars, have been expanding continuously thanks to higher confidence of consumers as well as the resumption of car manufacturing capacity. As a result, the car sales for the first half of this year were reported at 432,012 units in total, rising by 21.1% year-on-year.
However, the export figure last month stood only at 61,156 units with the total value of 42 billion baht, decreasing by 11.73% compared with the same month last year, owing to auto parts shortages. The export for the first six months hence dwindled by 7.6% to stand at 386,410 vehicles worth about 170 billion baht.
