Automobile export rose for the first time in 14 months

BANGKOK, Sept 20 (TNA) - The export of automobiles in August rose 9.26% year-on-year to 102,907 units, making its first increase in 14 months. Surapong Paisitpattanapong, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said the export rose in most markets including Asia, Central America and Europe possibly due to recovery in global markets. According to him, the production of automobiles in August increased 13.48% year-on-year to 177,415 units as the export-oriented production of one-ton pickup trucks went up 7.05% to 62,313 units. The production of passenger cars for local markets in August rose 16.21% to 35,136 units and the production of one-ton pickup trucks for local customers increased 37.53% to 77,605 units. In August the local sales of automobiles climbed 6.8%. The rise continued for the eighth consecutive month due to the launches of new models, export growth and recovering investment in the private sector. In the first eight months of this year (from January to August), the local sales of automobiles amounted to 543,120 units. Mr Surapong said that the figure would reach 830,000 throughout this year as earlier anticipated. (TNA)