Thailand car production rises 2.75% y/y in Dec, but sales drop

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Car production in Thailand rose 2.75% in December from a year earlier to 158,606 units, after a 15% rise in the previous month, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said on Tuesday.

In 2022, car production increased 11.73% to 1.88 million vehicles, Surapong Paisitpattanapong, a spokesperson for FTI’s automotive industry division, told a news conference.

In December, car exports rose 10.17% from a year earlier to 111,605 vehicles, he said.

However, domestic car sales dropped 9.02% from a year earlier to 82,799 units due to a lack of semiconductors in some car models and flooding in parts of the country, he said.

In 2022, domestic car sales increased 11.89%, while exports increased 4.28%, Surapong said.

Thailand is a regional vehicle production and export base for some of the world’s top car makers, including Toyota and Honda. The industry accounts for about 10% of Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy and its manufacturing jobs.

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring and Satawasin Staporncharnchai; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Ed Davies)