The Thai commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw declined by 2.9% to an estimated 103,491 units in the first quarter of 2021 from weak year-earlier first quarter sales of 106,561 units.

Knorr-Bremse recently celebrated the official start of production of its Recirculating Ball (RCB) Integral Power Steering (IPS) at its new plant in Chachoengsao, east of Bangkok, Thailand.

Sales of medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles over 6 tons gvw are estimated to have declined by over 23% to 19,589 units in 2020 from 25,575 units in the previous year, reflecting declining investment, trade and domestic consumption over the full year.

The market for other light commercial vehicles between 2-6 tons gvw declined by 7.8% to 6,041 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 6,552 units in the same period of the previous year, resulting in a 14.5% fall in full-year sales to 19,450 units from 22,760 units in 2019.

Sales of pickup trucks and derivatives declined by just 1.4% to 125,671 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 127,429 units a year earlier, as domestic economic activity in the country began to stabilise after a year of decline.

The Thai commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw expanded by just over 1% to 137,660 in the fourth quarter of 2020 after declining sharply to 136,172 units in the same period of the previous year, according to data and some estimates from various industry sources compiled by www.AsiaMotorBusiness.com.

Volvo Bus Thailand Company of Bangkok is looking to expand sales this year by expanding its customer base beyond the tourist industry with a new focus on coach sales to factories and state agencies for worker transportation contracts, according to a company executive, Kulkarineetham Dechchai, managing director of Volvo Bus Thailand.

Electronics giant, Hitachi Ltd, last month launched a truck sharing service in Thailand to help improve road haulage efficiency in the country.