Toyota expects car sales in Thailand at 800,000 units this year

BANGKOK, Feb 1 (TNA) -- Toyota expects car sales in Thailand at 800,000 units this year, a 4.06 percent jump from last year. It would be a recovery from a 3.9 percent decrease in car sales last year for Toyota due mostly to the excise tax hike, according to Kyoichi Tanada, president of the Toyota Motor Thailand. He said the improvement in domestic car sales would be helped by new models, government investment and the end of a five-year restriction on people selling cars bought under a government subsidy scheme. However, export of cars assembled in Thailand is projected to decline 11 percent, Tanada said at a news conference on Tuesday. Toyota Thailand has been operating in Thailand for 55 years, one of carmakers making the country a regional production and export hub. (TNA)