Thai domestic car sales rise in April

BANGKOK: Thailand's domestic car sales in April rose for the first time in 23 months, the Federation of Thai Industries said on Thursday, though production and exports extended their run of falls.

Local sales were up 0.97% in April from a year earlier, after a 0.54% fall in March, the group said.

"Sales increased from passenger cars, but sales of pickup trucks decreased because financing was still tight," said Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesperson for the FTI's automotive industry division.

Car production in Thailand fell 0.4% in April from a year earlier to 104,250 units, it said.

The fall followed March's 6.09% year-on-year drop, and was the 21st straight month that production had declined.

"Truck production has decreased by 33%, which clearly shows that our home economy is weak," he said.

Exports fell 6.31% in April from a year earlier, a smaller contraction than 14.91% in the previous month.

Thailand is Southeast Asia's biggest autos production centre and an export base for some of the world's top carmakers, including Toyota, Honda and China's BYD.