Thai auto sales plunge 25% in first 9 months of 2024

Thailand’s automotive industry suffered a 25% drop in sales during the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI)’s Automotive Industry Club reported on Friday.

Some 438,000 units were sold between January and September, 25% lower than the same period last year, with some 39,000 units sold in September, the club’s vice president, Surapong Paisitpattanapong, said.

In September, he said, it was the first time in 51 months that less than 40,000 units were sold. In April 2020, 30,109 units were sold due to the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Surapong attributed the decline in auto sales to stricter loan criteria employed by financial institutions in a bid to tame non-performing loans (NPLs).

At the end of this year’s second quarter, NPLs in the automotive sector jumped 29.7% year-on-year to over 254.48 billion baht.

Responding to this trend, domestic auto manufacturers also brought down their output by 20% year-on-year, Surapong said.

The FTI’s Auto Club reported that registration of electric vehicles (EVs) in August was contracting 3% year on year, but the eight-month total is still growing 17% compared to the previous year.

The situation prompted the club to adjust its estimation of EV sales this year to 76,000 units, the same as last year’s sales, from the previous estimate of 100,000 units.

“The industry hopes that the government’s economic stimulus campaigns, as well as the disbursement of FY2025 from October, would induce more investment, employment, and consequently domestic spending,” he said.