Carmakers Review Thai Plans as Car Sales Plunge

With car sales in Thailand down at least 30% this year, carmakers are reconsidering expansion plans in the country, the Financial Times says.

Thailand is an especially important manufacturing hub for Japanese carmakers in the region. The FT notes that companies expected sales to drop after a tax incentive for first-time buyers expired at the beginning of the year. But the market has been further stunted by anti-government protests and the stifling effect of a military coup in May.

Toyota Motor Corp. now expects the Thai market to shrink nearly one-third to 920,000 units this year. The contraction is more than twice what the company forecast in January when it said the slump might alter its plans to invest $609 million in the country.