Inter-Media Consultant Co, the organiser of Thailand International Motor Expo, says it is confident healthy sentiment in the car market this year could increase bookings during the upcoming auto show.
The 34th show is titled "New Age Vehicles … A Distant Dream Come True" and is scheduled from Nov 30 to Dec 11 at Impact Muang Thong Thani.
President Kwanchai Paphatphong said he expects 40,000 cars to be booked, up by 23% from the previous year, while big bike bookings could reach 7,000 motorcycles, down 12%.
About 1.5 million visitors are expected to join the 12-day auto show and generate 50 billion baht in circulation.
He said the overall car market has been showing positive momentum since early 2017, driven by the improving economy and purchasing power, especially from middle to high-end buyers.
The brighter auto outlook was in line with figures from the Federation of Thai Industries, and car sales in January to September were up 11.5% at 620,715 units.
"The domestic market has grown higher than our expectations with a 10% rise," he said. "It will be possible for the domestic auto market to grow by 12%, or 861,000 cars sold in 2017, thanks to the recovering market, which is expected to grow by 15% on quarter in the last quarter of this year, with around 244,000 units expected to be sold."
For the big bike market, he said there are some uncertainties keeping sales volume down, so the organiser is keeping its forecast conservative.
The motor expo last year booked 32,422 cars, down 17.1%, while motorcycle bookings rose 38.2% to 7,942.
The average car price at the auto show was up 2.7% at 1.178 million baht last year, but visitors during the 12 days fell by 19.3% to 1.19 million and money circulation fell by 10% to 45 billion baht.
Last year, the car sales stood at 768,788 units in 2016, down by 3.9%, marking the lowest volume over seven years since 2010.
Thailand's car market was the highest ever in 2012, with 1.44 million cars sold, up sharply by 80.6% from the previous year, propelled by the Yingluck Shinawatra government's first-time car buyer scheme, before decreasing to 1.33 million cars in 2013.
The market fell sharply by 33.7% to 881,832 cars in 2014 and declined by 9.3% to 799,592 in 2015.
Mr Kwanchai said there are no negative factors in the car market and the political situation has become more stable.
"Thailand's fundamental factors are capable of growth in the automotive sector," he said.
