Thailand’s car production continues to slump in 2025. The kingdom, known for being Asia’s auto manufacturing hub, saw a 24.6 per cent decline in production on-year.
MARKET STATISTICS
January 2025 is Thailand’s 18th consecutive month in steady production decline. The kingdom produced 107,103 vehicles last month. This figure is 24.6 per cent down from last year’s results from the same period. Despite a four-year low, the kingdom is still the leading vehicle producer in Southeast Asia.
January sales are also at a downturn, seeing a 12.26 per cent drop on-year. Overall, internal combustion engine (ICE) passenger vehicles sales dropped 16 per cent with 12,010 units sold. Additionally, passenger pick-up vehicles also declined by 17.5 per cent last month. On the other hand, battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales sold 7,022 units, falling by 17.2 per cent on-year. The only vehicles left unscathed were hybrid vehicles, which sold 11,578 units and improved by 13 per cent on-year.
Japanese vehicles dominated the top 10 best-selling vehicles of the month, especially Toyota. Sales of the Isuzu D-Max came out on top, albeit with a 20 per cent decline in its sales on-year. The D-Max sold 7,211 units while the Toyota Hilux, in second place, sold 5,901 units. The MU-X joins the D-Max as Isuzu’s entries in the top 10 with 1,752 units sold.
Toyota models comprised 6 out of the 10 top-selling vehicles for the month of January. Aside from the Hilux, these are the Yaris ATIV, Yaris Cross, Corolla Cross, and the Fortuner. The Yaris Cross had the most improvement between sales on-year with a 24.2 per cent increase on-year.
Two models from Honda, the CR-V and HR-V, sold 3,385 and 1,707 units respectively. Both saw significant declines on-year, decreasing at 17.1 per cent and 37.8 per cent respectively.
Similar to months prior, BYD entered the top 10 with one vehicle. For the month of January, the EV maker’s Sealion 07 came at 6th place with 1,757 units sold. The Sealion beat out the Isuzu MU-X, Honda HR-V, Toyota Corolla Cross, and Toyota Fortuner.
Exports are also down by 28.1 per cent on-year. January 2024 saw 86,716 vehicles exported, but January 2025 only saw 62,321 units exported. These figures may be an effect of mass layoffs and factory shutdowns in Thailand’s auto industry.
In terms of overall vehicle sales, Thailand has fallen behind Indonesia and Malaysia, making it the third largest market in Southeast Asia.
SHOCKING FIGURES
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) auto club spokesperson Surapong Paisitpattanapong expressed that he was “very shocked” at the low figures for January 2025. High household debt and a loan rejection rate of 70 per cent still plague the country. Paisitpattanapong made an appeal to the Thai government to solve the kingdom’s debt issues and provide further support for the auto industry.
The FTI will continue to observe if the Thai government will provide solutions for the country’s financial issues. Additionally, external factors such as tariff impositions from the United States government will be closely monitored by the organisation. US President Donald Trump is set to execute these tariffs by April 2 2025 and they may impact the Thai auto market’s performance moving forward.
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