Car production projection down by 200,000 units



BANGKOK: -- The automotive industry of the Federation of Thai Industries has revised down the automobile production projection for this year by200,000 units to 2.2 million units due to drop in sale during the first half of the year.

Mr Surapong Paisitpattanapong, vice president of the automotive industry, disclosed Wednesday that production projection for this year would be about 10.45 percent lower than last year or 257,000 units less.

Production for local consumption will be scaled down from 1.2 million units to one million which accounts for 45.45 percent of the entire production or 25.14 percent down from last year’s total production of 1.33 million units, he said, adding that the scaleback in production projection was due mainly to below-target sale during the first six months of the year.

Only 441,000 units were sold against the sale target of 500,000 units.

Regarding production for export, production target remains unchanged at 1.2 million units which account for 54.54 percent of overall production or 7.7 percent increase from last year’s production of 1.12 million units for export.

Production for June numbered 160,000 units, an increase of 8.41 percent from May but 26.1 percent lower than the same month last year largely due to the end of the first car project.

As far as car sale is concerned, 73,800 units were sold in June, down by 30.4 percent compared to the same month last year. Overall car sale for the first six months stood at 441,000 units, down by 40.5 percent from the same period last year.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/car-production-projection-200000-units/


-- Thai PBS 2014-07-24

Maybe they could start a scheme whereby folk that would like a new pick-up can get a 200.000 rebate if they buy one over a certain value....say 800.000 +.

I know my wife would jump at that!

And just last week 'The Hub Alliance' was chirping on about how successful Thailand was going to be and the projections would RISE by 200,000 units.

Lying is a way of life here.

Should try bringing down showroom prices which are far too high for in many cases low spec' cars. Never met a Thai car salesman yet that wants to give any incentive to buy, just arrogance. Last year i was looking at new Hyundai, by no means cheap here, and i asked to try the demo' car. Answer was ''No demo' car; if people want it they will buy '' Another potential customer lost to arrogance, or shall we call it 'Thainess' !

Extremely hard to get any significant discount when buying a new car in Thailand...unlike new and used car sales in the U.S. where you can get very significant discounts. My sister in the U.S. just bought a new Toyota car and ended up getting around 7% in discounts on what she considered already a low price....now she bounced back and forth between two dealership in getting them to compete for her business but that's the way it's done many times in the U.S. Bouncing back and forth between two Thai dealerships would probably just result in bruises and practically no discount.

You want to sell more cars, drop the VAT down to the 7% instead of the "Legal Robbery" it is today.

You want to sell more cars, drop the VAT down to the 7% instead of the "Legal Robbery" it is today.

Actually, the 7% VAT is still 7%...it's the "excise" tax that ups the price so much...usually in the 15 to 30% ballpark depending on the brand/engine size. Much of Thailand's revenue comes from import, excise, and corporate taxes versus personal income since a small percentage of the population ends up paying any personal income tax.

Maybe the government could set up a car pledge program whereby it would buy the manufacturer's entire domestic car inventory at 5% over manufacturer's cost, then resell them directly to the public for another 2% markup. At least you wouldn't have the problems with spoilage and pilfering like with the rice pledging program.

Thailand for many years has been called the " Detroit of the East "

Motor vehicle production now down by 200K , motor cycle production way down also, and with several marques choosing to set up production plants in alternative SE Asia nations,

Maybe they are heading to towards the Detroit of today.

That picture is a Mitsubishi lancer

Hmm I bargain discounts easily without any problems in Thailand. Make sure the dealers you are going to are not "sister branches". Usually it's owned by the same group just in different locations. Shop and search around, and the main thing is let the sales know that you are serious on buying the car. That's the first thing I seek to accomplish. They don't like window shoppers. After that, the question is, who do I buy from? That I leave to the performance of the sales, and where I start to relax and sit back on my seat looking unimpressed.

If a car is built outside of Thailand I can understand the import tax. All the Japanese cars are made in Thailand so how can they put an import tax on something made within the country?? The Japanese companies have already paid the tax for the parts to enter Thailand. So who is being ripped off? The companies that are trying to give work to the Thai's or the people that want to buy the product? To be honest both are being fleeced by this bullpoop!

If a car is built outside of Thailand I can understand the import tax. All the Japanese cars are made in Thailand so how can they put an import tax on something made within the country?? The Japanese companies have already paid the tax for the parts to enter Thailand. So who is being ripped off? The companies that are trying to give work to the Thai's or the people that want to buy the product? To be honest both are being fleeced by this bullpoop!

Thailand places an "excise" tax on the vehicles...just like they put excise taxes on liquor, tobacco, and many other products. Excise tax is different than import tax or Value Added Tax (VAT).

Excise Tax

Excise tax is an indirect tax imposed by the Excise Tax Act and other specific Acts, on certain commodities irrespective of whether the commodities are produced in Thailand or imported. Excise tax is imposed on the manufacturer or importer; tax liability is incurred when the goods leave the factory or bonded warehouse, or are imported. Commodities subject to excise tax include-:

• petroleum and petroleum products;

• non-alcoholic beverages;

• electrical appliances;

• lead crystal products;

• motor vehicles, motorcycles, yachts;

• perfume;

• certain services; and more.

Excise taxes can range from less than 1% up to 50%.

You want to sell more cars, drop the VAT down to the 7% instead of the "Legal Robbery" it is today.

Actually, the 7% VAT is still 7%...it's the "excise" tax that ups the price so much...usually in the 15 to 30% ballpark depending on the brand/engine size. Much of Thailand's revenue comes from import, excise, and corporate taxes versus personal income since a small percentage of the population ends up paying any personal income tax.

Exactly, most Thai taxes are consumption taxes, which tend to sock it to the poor more than the wealthy as they spend most of their meagre incomes keeping themselves alive. As a retired investor, the Thai tax structure is quite favorable to me (no property taxes, very low capital gains taxes, etc.) so having to chip in a little into the kitty every decade or so,when I buy a new car is no biggie.

I have been noticing the auto manufacturers have been getting a little promotional lately, like BMW is now offering, in addition to their 3-year service inclusive scheme, 3 years first class insurance and .33% interest rates on new purchases.

I have been noticing the auto manufacturers have been getting a little promotional lately, like BMW is now offering, in addition to their 3-year service inclusive scheme, 3 years first class insurance and .33% interest rates on new purchases.

Definitely nothing wrong with getting 3 years of 1st Class Insurance coverage, but all 1st Class Insurance policies are not created equal...they do vary in the amount of covarge/baht per incident covered. When I bought my new Toyota Fortuner around 5 years ago it came with 1 year 1st Class Insurance as part of the deal. I didn't renew that insurance because I got significantly better/more coverage and a lower premium by switching to another insurance company.

If a car is built outside of Thailand I can understand the import tax. All the Japanese cars are made in Thailand so how can they put an import tax on something made within the country?? The Japanese companies have already paid the tax for the parts to enter Thailand. So who is being ripped off? The companies that are trying to give work to the Thai's or the people that want to buy the product? To be honest both are being fleeced by this bullpoop!

I think you will find most cars are bought with unpaid income tax in this country and also tea money that isn't taxed. It's a way of recouping some of it IMO.

Should try bringing down showroom prices which are far too high for in many cases low spec' cars. Never met a Thai car salesman yet that wants to give any incentive to buy, just arrogance. Last year i was looking at new Hyundai, by no means cheap here, and i asked to try the demo' car. Answer was ''No demo' car; if people want it they will buy '' Another potential customer lost to arrogance, or shall we call it 'Thainess' !

So what did you buy and did they give you a big discount?

Last year the salesman did not have to give you incentive the government did with their promise of a tax rebate.

Of course that was the reason people bought last year instead of this year when they would have to pay the tax.

Every one knew this would happen and didn't care. Except of course the Industry knew it would happen and did care.

But there was no reasoning with the PTP.

I wonder how many of those new cars were returned due to lack of money to make the payments. Should be a good time for recent models this year and next year.

Just saying.

Extremely hard to get any significant discount when buying a new car in Thailand...unlike new and used car sales in the U.S. where you can get very significant discounts. My sister in the U.S. just bought a new Toyota car and ended up getting around 7% in discounts on what she considered already a low price....now she bounced back and forth between two dealership in getting them to compete for her business but that's the way it's done many times in the U.S. Bouncing back and forth between two Thai dealerships would probably just result in bruises and practically no discount.

True

In the states and Canada they mark them up so they can discount them and make you think you got a good deal. They of course are hoping that people will not know that and many don't.

Did your sister have to settle for fewer extra's in the final deal?

Extremely hard to get any significant discount when buying a new car in Thailand...unlike new and used car sales in the U.S. where you can get very significant discounts. My sister in the U.S. just bought a new Toyota car and ended up getting around 7% in discounts on what she considered already a low price....now she bounced back and forth between two dealership in getting them to compete for her business but that's the way it's done many times in the U.S. Bouncing back and forth between two Thai dealerships would probably just result in bruises and practically no discount.

True

In the states and Canada they mark them up so they can discount them and make you think you got a good deal. They of course are hoping that people will not know that and many don't.

Did your sister have to settle for fewer extra's in the final deal?

One thing in the US is that you can find out, via the Internet, exactly what the dealer's costs are and usually you can purchase the car for around $700 above that price so the salesman and the dealer make some profit. The more cars they shift, the better their price from the manufacturer and, unlike Thailand, they realize that making a sale/small profit is better than no sale/no profit. The dealership will get more from you on service and/or extras. What I can't understand, and I wish someone would explain it to me, is why you can't get a good deal on a used car here in Thailand.

To address the OP, the market got saturated with the First Car Buyer's Program and anyone who was even close to buying a new car has already bought one. Expect lower domestic demand for new cars for at least three years. The US messed up its own domestic car market with the government subsidized 'Cash for Clunkers' program.