BANGKOK, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's auto production continued to shrink for the fifth consecutive month in December 2023 as local sales dropped amid high household debt, data from the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) showed on Monday.
Thai auto manufacturers produced 133,621 vehicles last month, down 15.75 percent from a year earlier, due to a major decline in pickup truck output and a bigger share of imported battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the market, according to the FTI.
For the whole of 2023, auto manufacturing contracted 2.22 percent year on year, weighed down by lower production of internal combustion engine (ICE) passenger cars, despite a significant jump in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), the FTI said in a statement.
The Southeast Asian country's finished car exports plummeted 19.09 percent year on year last month to 90,305 units, said Surapong Paisitpattanapong, vice president and spokesperson of the FTI's automotive industry club.
In 2023, finished car exports rose 11.73 percent year on year, totaling 1,117,539 units, the highest in five years as sales in most export markets improved, Surapong told a news conference.
Domestic auto sales declined 17.48 percent year on year to 68,326 units last month, dragged down by a drop in pickup truck sales as banks tightened lending standards owing to high household debts, he said.
For the entire last year, domestic auto sales fell 8.67 percent from a year earlier to 775,780 units, of which 30.75 percent were ICE passenger cars, 11.98 percent were HEVs, and 9.48 percent were BEVs, the statement said.
The federation targets its auto production for both local sales and exports this year at 1.90 million units, up 3.17 percent from the actual output in 2023. ■