BANGKOK, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's auto production extended its contraction to the lowest rate in 44 months in April due to model transitions and lower output for pickup trucks, data from the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) showed on Thursday.
Thai auto manufacturers produced 104,250 vehicles last month, down 0.4 percent from a year earlier and easing from a 6.09 percent decline in March, according to the FTI.
The less contraction was attributed to significant growth in pure and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (EVs), offsetting an ongoing decline in output for fuel-powered passenger cars, said FTI Automotive Industry Club spokesperson Surapong Paisitpattanapong.
For the first four months of 2025, auto production plunged 11.96 percent over the previous year to 456,749 units, with truck output falling 67.7 percent, reflecting a weakening economy, Surapong told a news conference.
Domestic auto sales edged up 0.97 percent year-on-year to 47,193 units in April, supported by an uptick in sales of passenger EVs, Surapong said.
The Southeast Asian country's finished car exports shrank 6.31 percent from a year earlier to 65,730 units in April due to model changes in certain passenger cars and stricter regulations in some trading partners concerning safety assistance technology and carbon emissions, he said.
He noted that the kingdom began exporting passenger pure-EVs for the first time in April, as local production gathered steam, totaling 660 units and accounting for 1.43 percent of the total auto shipments. ■
