Car Sales May Jump 10% in Thailand This Year

New-car sales in Thailand climbed 16% to 273,800 units in January-April, according to the Federation of Thai Industries.

Full-year demand is likely to grow at least 10%, reversing last year’s 4% decline, analysts say. They say sales were being driven by 3.3% growth in Thailand’s gross domestic product and the end of a five-year ownership requirement linked to the government’s first-time-buyer incentive program that ended in 2012.

The stimulus effort pushed up new-car deliveries in Thailand by 81% to a record 1.44 million units in 2012. But sales withered when the incentives ended. By 2015, sales had plummeted to about 800,000 units.