Car output set to hit record 2 million units

Suparat Sirisuwan-nangkura head of the Federation of Thai Industries’ Automotive Industry Club, said yesterday that the country could see total automotive production of 2.1 million to 2.3 million units this year, as many giant car assemblers have restored their capacity to almost 100 per cent. Major brands, especially Toyota, Honda, Isuzu and the US and EU carmakers have also gradually delivered their retrospective orders, which account for 450,000 units approximately.

“Car output rose for two straight months in March and April,” he said, adding, “We are sure that we could celebrate the country’s car production hitting 2 million units”.

He believed that both car assemblers and car parts suppliers have been able to tackle the auto-parts supply chain disruption caused by severe flood last year. 

“Now, there is talk among carmakers and auto-parts suppliers on how to deal with the flood problem if it happens this year,” said Suparat.

Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesman for the FTI’s Automotive Industry Club, said that car production in April totalled 142,000 units, up 59.58 per cent from the same period last year. 

Of the total, passenger cars accounted for 52,400 units, surging 49.4 per cent. This is because, Honda, which shares a large proportion of passenger cars, has now resumed its production.

From January to April, car production totalled 641,000, up 15 per cent from the same period of last year. Car production for exports accounted for 282,000 units, representing 43.97 per cent of total car production, up 1.16 per cent year on year. 

Car production for domestic sales in the first four months was 86,800 units, representing 61.05 per cent of total car production, or 89.89 per cent year on year. Total car production for exports totalled 359,000 units, rising 28.83 per cent from the same period last year.

In April alone, car production for exports were 55,400 units, accounting for 38.95 per cent of total car production. The figures rose by 27.6 per cent over last year. The value of car exports were Bt26 billion, up 14.29 per cent year on year.

Meanwhile, domestic car sales in April were 87,700 units, up by 30.05 per cent year on year. 

Domestic car sales for the first four months were 367,000 units, up by 20 per cent year on year.

In addition, the FTI yesterday also revealed that the Thai Industries Sentiment Index in April rose for the third straight month, standing at 104 points, up from 102.1 in March, due to an increase in the number of car orders, car production, and performance of auto-makers.