FTI's auto club to cut output target as sales contract in first 9 months
Sales in September the lowest in 53 months, amid high auto loan rejection rates
Estimates for automotive manufacturing output this year are likely to be lowered as the industry has been suffering from contracting sales over the past nine months, according to the Automotive Industry Club of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
Thailand has produced around 1.1 million units of vehicles from January to September, an 18.62% drop in output from 1.3 million units in the same period last year.
With the current rate, manufacturers were unlikely to meet the target of 1.7 million units by the end of the year, the club’s vice president, Surapong Paisitpattanapong, said on Thursday.
He said the FTI would hold a meeting next week to consider revising the output target, with a possibility of reducing the target by several thousand units, or up to 100,000 units.
Surapong pointed out that the automotive industry had suffered a 25% drop in sales during the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, with some 438,000 units sold. This has prompted manufacturers to slow down their output in line with market demands.
He said domestic sales had long been suffering from rising household debt and the high rejection rate of auto loans, while auto exports in the past few months had been affected by geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, where several of Thailand’s customers are located.
Auto sales in September were recorded at 39,048 units, he said, adding it was the first time in 53 months that less than 40,000 units were sold – a drop of 13.59% from the previous months.
“Financial institutions have been employing stricter criteria and rejecting around 60% of auto loan applications in a bid to tame non-performing loans, which have risen to 259.33 billion baht as of July,” he said.
The FTI’s Auto Club reported that the registration of battery electric vehicles in September contracted 6.75% year on year to 6,606 units, but the nine-month total still showed 11.67% growth year on year with a total sales of 75,653 units.
