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1 Mar 2023
Domestic BEV sales set to reach 50,000 units in 2023... Read more
30 Dec 2022
Thailand is transitioning towards a green vehicle society. KResearch is of the view that domestic sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) may reach 300,000 units by 2025, suggesting that the demand for electric charging in the country will substantially increase from now on. ... Read more
22 Jul 2022
Presently, competition in the domestic car market, particularly the BEV market, has changed significantly. Thailand has undertaken greater efforts of investment to retain its domestic automotive industry by providing extensive support from this year through to 2025. ... Read more
1 Apr 2022
New supportive measures introduced by the government have substantially helped bolster the Thai BEV market. Intense competition has quickly been seen in the BEV market as Chinese carmakers capitalized on the timing, when mainstream carmakers were unprepared, to seize their share of the BEV market via a number of strengths, namely product selection for market penetration and setting up of attractive prices to induce more buyers. ... Read more
16 Mar 2022
30 Dec 2021
The government will soon announce measures to boost domestic demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), with the aim of maintaining their prices at a level closer to those of petrol-driven cars. KResearch views that car manufacturers who would benefit from the initiatives may be limited to those equipped with the latest technology and with production bases located in Thailand, or planning to establish a BEV manufacturing base here in the near future. This is especially true for Chinese carmakers who already have the required technology, and Western luxury car brands that are considering Thailand as a production base for exporting right-hand-drive BEVs. That said, only a few Japanese carmakers are prepared to make such an investment, due to concerns over technology readiness.... Read more
29 Jul 2021
With the most recent wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Delta variant has established itself as a major global threat, having spurred a surge in the number of cases across many countries, including Thailand. It may also impact economies worldwide over the long term if the outbreak is not successfully contained. Based on the severity of the latest outbreak in Thailand, KResearch has revised its projection for the Thai automotive industry in 2021.... Read more
28 May 2021
KResearch has assessed that Thai auto exports in 2021 should improve from the previous year, thanks in large part to the economic recovery of major trading partners in Oceania and Asia. At the same time, an increasing number of Japanese car manufacturers are using Thailand as a production base for export markets, especially for shipments back to Japan. However, two major risks are weighing on Thai auto exports at present, namely (1) the trend of COVID-19 cases among Thailand’s trading partners,... Read more
29 Apr 2021
Although the government did not announce lockdown restrictions to cope with the latest wave of COVID-19, the highest number of daily infections since the start of the pandemic here has not only triggered concern among Thai consumers about their future income, but also affected overall domestic consumption. The car market is a sector that has been hurt by the pandemic because cars are perceived as luxury goods and having long-term expense obligations. Aside from COVID-19, another factor that may significantly pressure car sales in 2Q21 is the fact that several car makers have experienced shortages of electronic chips and this may cause them to delay the production of some models. ... Read more
27 Aug 2020
Presently, automobile and auto parts manufacturers, especially Japanese brands, are progressively moving away from production processes that emphasize keeping costs low, like lean production, to production that leans more towards agile supply chains in order to quickly respond to potentially volatile situations. As a result, selecting a production base to support this new production process has grown in importance. For this new production process, investors tend to choose a country that has established economic cooperation with other production bases outside their region. This will be conducive to the implementation of an agile supply chain, which would make it easier to achieve economies of scale in their production. Thus, KResearch perceives that becoming a member of economic cooperation with links to major consumer markets around the world, like the EU or the Americas, is crucial to attracting more foreign investment. Thailand would then be able to become a part of the new supply chain, particularly for EVs, a supply chain that would bring Asia closer to markets in other regions through increased usage of a shared platform.... Read more
7 May 2020
The ongoing COVID-19 global crisis has affected the Thai automobile industry in many different aspects, as the economic recession which is playing out in Thailand and at the international level remains the key factor impacting purchase orders for cars, both domestically and in export markets. As a consequence, this year has seen the volume of car production in Thailand plunge to a 9-year low. ... Read more
10 Apr 2020
At present, China has established a rising trend in car exports and increasingly invested in automobile production across multiple countries around the world, especially in the category of electric vehicles (EV), which have been considerably well-received, even in the automobile markets of developed countries. Regarding the situation, KResearch found that Thai car exports have begun to feel the impact from competition presented by Chinese cars in established markets such as Australia, the Philippines and Malaysia. There is also a chance that the impact will become far-reaching without domestic preparation, particularly in attracting investment from China.... Read more
14 Feb 2020
The outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) with the epicenter in China has become unpredictable as it is spreading, adversely affecting the economy worldwide, including China’s automotive sector and the global auto industry, including Thailand’s. All automotive sectors are suffering contraction. Consequently, KResearch is lowering the estimated car sales in 2020 from a contraction of 5 percent originally or 960,000 units of auto sales to a contraction of 7-11 percent or only 900,000-940,000 units of vehicles that are expected to be sold for the whole year.... Read more
4 Feb 2020
2020 may be another difficult year for Thai car exports. Despite a positive factor, i.e., a likelihood that the Baht may not be as strong as that seen in 2019, there are a number of factors that may inevitably cause Thai car shipments to shrink in 2020. These include economic problems continuing from last year, the fact that Australia, being our key trade partners, is being gripped by bushfires, and the current novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) outbreaks that may adversely affect tourism in our trade partners, in particular Vietnam and the Philippines, being our second and third largest car export markets, with relatively high number of Chinese tourist arrivals and high tourism income to GDP ratios.... Read more
4 Dec 2019
KResearch views that the overall auto sales throughout 2019 will contract 2.5 percent from 2018, or totaling 1,015,000 units. The Bank of Thailand’s control measure for auto loan approval, launched in the middle of this year, has become a key factor pressuring auto loan sales.... Read more
28 Nov 2019
In the past 2 to 3 years, the automobile industry has awakened to the realization that the era of electric vehicles (EV) is coming, resulting in a massive restructuring of the automotive part supply chain worldwide, including Thailand, in 2 aspects; the internal combustion engine (ICE) supply chain and the new supply chain that produces key components specifically for electric vehicles.... Read more
5 Nov 2019
Europe is another important market for Thailand’s pickup exports. However, because of more stringent environmental measures for commercial vehicles in Europe, we at KResearch view that most of Thai pickups shipped to Europe will inevitably have to be upgraded to hybrid pickups over the near future. Since there is no production base of medium-sized hybrid pickups that are popular in Europe, ... Read more
28 Aug 2019
Amid a new round of the US-China trade dispute, China has announced a 25 percent tariff hike on US car imports, effective December 15, 2019. This is expected to adversely affect US car shipments to China later on. However, it may benefit Thailand because luxury carmakers, namely BMW and Mercedes Benz that have their major production bases for some models in the US, will likely move such production to Thailand for export to China sooner. ... Read more
23 Aug 2019
KResearch projects that Thai car exports overall may contract 2.7 percent to 1,110,000 units in 2019, dampened by a number of factors. These include the protracted trade war, stronger Baht and substantial declines in our automobile shipments to major markets, namely Australia, as they are experiencing the economic downturn. However, Thai pick-up truck exports continue to thrive. We expect that such shipments will grow 2.4 percent to 626,000 units in 2019, whereas other types of car exports to most markets may shrink. ... Read more
8 Aug 2019
For the vehicle market in 2019, KResearch views that although the auto market registered decent growth in 1H19, there are negative factors dragging on the market in 2H19, especially the Bank of Thailand’s measures to control auto loans approved by commercial banks. Consequently, auto sales in 2H19 may contract 3 percent to 536,000 units. Auto sales for the whole year may increase slightly 1.8 percent or a total of 1,060,000 units.... Read more
18 Jul 2019
Growth in the global electric vehicle (EV) market currently has prompted Japanese car makers to restructure their supply chains by adopting horizontal specialization. Under this strategy, they have joined forces with their partners to develop a single platform. This has benefited Thai auto parts makers overall over the first 10 years when the car market consisted largely of internal combustion engine vehicles. Due to increased investments in hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) in Thailand, their impact on demand for engine parts will be limited. As the battery electric vehicle (BEV) market will likely be small over the next 10 years, we at KResearch project that only 2.4 percent of the engine parts value will disappear when compared to the case that there are no BEVs in the market. ... Read more
15 May 2019
The domestic and export markets of Thai motorcycles have become saturated. However, the outlook for domestic sales and exports of big bikes remains promising. This has steadily attracted the world’s major big bike makers to invest in Thailand, making us one of the leading big bike manufacturing and exporting nations.... Read more
10 May 2019
KResearch expects that the demand for sensors, which are essential components for the automotive manufacturing in Thailand, will steadily increase. Due to stricter environmental measures to curb carbon emissions, automakers have placed higher attention on environmental and safety systems in their new car models. Also, many car companies have increasingly used sensors in the production of electric vehicles (EVs). As a result, the volume of sensors used in vehicles has increased from 45 units per car on average 10 years ago to 60 units per car at the moment. The demand for sensors for car manufacturing is set to rise further in the future.... Read more
31 Jan 2019
Amid attempts to promote carmakers to adopt the Euro 5 emission standards for domestically-produced cars in 2021, aimed at addressing the PM2.5 dust particle problem over the long term, we at KResearch have assessed that the costs involved will force consumers to set aside extra expenses of at least THB5 billion for new car purchases during a one-year period of using those standards.... Read more
30 Jan 2019
The booming electric vehicle (EV) market in Thailand is increasingly evident in 2019 as a number of automakers have sought the Board of Investment (BOI)’s incentives to produce EVs here. KResearch forecasts that the EV market share in the next five years will increase to one-fourth, or 240,000 units, of the total car sales nationwide. Eco-hybrid cars and mild-hybrid vehicles are likely to accelerate the growth in the early stage. When the EV production is approaching its full capacity in 2023, it is expected that at least 260,000 units of EV batteries will be rolled out to serve the demands in Thailand. ... Read more
26 Dec 2018
We at KResearch expect that Thai car exports will reach approximately 1.15-1.18 million units in 2019, increasing slightly by 1-4 percent over the 1.14 million units projected for 2018, due to a number of downside risks. These include volatile global trade that may dent purchasing power in our export markets, uncertainty foreseen in forex and interest rates, plus the EU’s new directives, aimed at controlling the number of cars emitting carbon dioxide. Moreover, many car makers have relocated production closer to potential markets in Europe and North America. However, there are several factors that may support our car exports, including the recovery in the Middle East market due to rising oil prices, positive responses from many markets toward our new pickup models and the fact that Thailand has been able to resume car exports to Vietnam after problems related to car import controls have eased.... Read more
12 Dec 2018
Currently, there is a transition in the global automotive industry toward environment-friendly cars. Thailand as one of the world’s leading car production bases has followed suit. Following the debut of domestically-assembled eco-cars in 2010, the country is now a leading environment-friendly car manufacturer in the region. Thanks to the government policy of promoting electric vehicles (EV), the Thai environment-friendly car market has exhibited substantial growth in 2018 with promising outlook foreseen in 2019.... Read more
9 Jul 2018
The adequacy of electric charging station infrastructure is the biggest concern of most consumers. Nonetheless, there are now a small number of plug-in EVs on the roads. According to the KResearch forecast, there will be only around 51,300 plug-in EVs by 2019, while more than 1,000 charging stations are set to be operational this year. Therefore, the number of charging stations should outpace the demand in the next one or two years. During the initial period, operators of charging stations may find it difficult to generate enough revenue to break even within one year. Therefore, financial assistance to support investments in charging stations is necessary during the initial period to promote EVs in Thailand.... Read more
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