In Thailand, Southeast Asia, where Japanese cars have a share of nearly 90%, the number of new cars sold in the last year decreased by 21% compared to the previous year, and due to the influence of the new coronavirus, sales are also large at important bases of Japanese manufacturers. I was depressed.
According to the announcement of the largest local Toyota Motor Corporation, the number of new cars sold in Thailand by all automakers in the last year was 792,146, a decrease of 21.4% from the previous year.
It is the first time since 2016 that the number of new cars sold in Thailand has fallen below 800,000 due to the rapid economic downturn caused by the spread of the new coronavirus.
Noriaki Yamashita, president of Toyota Thailand, commented, "The new coronavirus has had a great impact on the industry as a whole, but since the government's measures have been effective, I believe that it will recover in the future." I am.
On the other hand, Thailand is also the largest automobile production base in Southeast Asia, but according to the Federation of Thai Industries, the number of vehicles produced in the last year decreased by 29.1% compared to the previous year due to the drop in exports.
Regarding the outlook for this year, although both production and sales of new cars will exceed last year, it is not expected to return to the level before the spread of the infection, and the impact on Japanese manufacturers is likely to continue.