Market Trend and Outlook

Thailand’s Vehicle Market in October 2023 grows 7.4% with 48,314 new registrations. YTD figures at 566,166 are up 4.0% from the prior year.

Looking at cumulative data up to October 2023 brand-wise, the leader remains Toyota with 241,780 sales (-0.8%) followed by Honda at 82,707 (+6.6%), Ford at 37,609 (+28.3%) and Mitsubishi with 34,867 registrations (-21.0%).

MG secures 5th position with 24,268 sales (-5.8%), in front of Mazda at 20,615 (-36.6%) and BYD -up 23 spots- with 20,615 sales.

Nissan ranks in 8th spot with 16,694 registrations (-27.5%), followed by Suzuki with 13,655 sales (-25.2%) and BMW closing the top 10 with 12,217 registrations (+9.3%).

Looking at specific models the Isuzu D-Max remains the best seller despite losing 24.5% in year-on-year volume, followed by the Toyota Hilux down 17.6% from the previous year.

Medium-Term Market Trend

The vehicles market in Thailand has had many ups and downs in the past years. The market moved from 756,446 sales in 2010 to 1.44 million in 2012. While the trend inverted in the following year, initiating a downtrend that would continue until 2016 where it reached a low of 769,623 sales. 2017 and 2018 were years of recovery were the market grew back up to 1.04 million.

Following an 8.8% drop in 2019, the arrival of the pandemic caused the market to collapse further, reaching the lowest levels of the decade at 737,244 sales.

Thailand’s vehicles market remained relatively static in 2021 falling only 0.3%. While finally in 2022 showed signs of recovery, with volume rising 10.8% to 628,423.

The momentum gained in 2022 continues into 2023, with the first months posting positive performances. Despite the strong start to the year, the vehicles market will have to confront some issues within automotive industry: mainly the disruption in the global supply chain caused by a lack of raw materials, in particular for the production of microchips.

Market Trend and Outlook

In December vehicles sales in Thailand grow for the 11th month in a row with 36,144 new registrations (+4.2%). 2022 closes 10.8% higher than the prior year, totaling 628,423 sales. This is the first strong year after the collapse of the market during the pandemic.

Looking at cumulative data from 2022, brand-wise the top 4 remain unchanged with Toyota in pole position at 282,672 sales (+15.2% ) followed by Honda at 87,664 (+4.0%), Mitsubishi at 50,767 (+3.8%) and Mazda with 36,675 registrations (+1.0%).

Ford -up 1 spot- secures 5th position with 35,714 sales (+11.1%), in front of MG -up 1 spot- at 29,501 (+0.9%) and Nissan -down 2 spots- with 25,918 sales (-21.0%).

Suzuki maintains 8th spot with 20,800 registrations (-6.5%), followed by BMW with 13,180 sales (+32.0%) and Mercedes closing the top 10 with 12,863 registrations (+30.2%).