Thailand car production drops sharply in June, local sales fall

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Car production in Thailand fell 20.11% in June from a year earlier due to tighter financing rules and high consumer debt, and full-year production is now expected to be lower than in 2023, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said on Thursday.

The figure compared with May's 16.19% year-on-year drop.

In the January-June period, car production contracted 17.39% from a year earlier to 761,240 units, the federation said.

"Stricter measures for credit approval from financial institutions, coupled with household debt that was nearing 90% of GDP, led to a higher rejection rate for auto loans," Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesman of the FTI's automotive industry division, told a news briefing. Domestic car sales dropped 26.04% in June from a year earlier, after a 23.38% annual decline in May, the federation said.

The federation lowered its domestic sales target to 550,000 vehicles from an earlier forecast of 750,000 units. It also cut its production target to 1.7 million units this year, down from at 1.9 million vehicles seen earlier. In 2023, Thailand produced 1.84 million vehicles.

Auto exports were still seen at 1.15 million vehicles this year.

Thailand is Southeast Asia's biggest autos production centre and an export base for some of the world's top carmakers, including Toyota and Honda, with pickup trucks among the key vehicles manufactured.

(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon and Thanadech Staporncharnchai; Writing by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by John Mair)