Automobile

Automobile sales in April fell 65% YoY to 30,109 units, personal cars contracted by 74.7%, while commercial autos dropped 58.4% after Thailand has been put in lockdown to halt the spread of coronavirus and Work From Home measures which led to a decline in demand for vehicles, according to Toyota Motor Thailand. Domestic sales in the first four months of 2020 accounted for 230,173 cars, a 34.2% fall when compared to a year earlier. The ongoing pandemic continues to take its toll not only on the global economy, but also auto industry as stay-at-home regulations that were introduced by the government to ease the risk of infection. However, the government has relaxed a country lockdown in May by allowing some business activities to resume, as well as the auto industry that will be able to reopen its production, therefore there is a positive factor for automobile market in May. Vehicle markets in April dropped by 65% from last year; Toyota fell 58.9%, Isuzu plunged 55.4% and Honda decreased 76.6%. While the sales in January - April 2020 post a 34.2% fall, included Toyota shrank 40.6%, Isuzu plunged 18.3% and Honda decreased 24.2%.