Domestic automobile sales of as low as 750,000 vehicles are
expected this year as the poor economy blunts demand.
Negative factors include low farm prices, shrinking private
investment, stricter approvals for hire-purchase financing and
slow budget disbursement by the government. Under the
current unfavourable circumstances, it will be hard for car sales
to exceed 70,000 vehicles a month in the remaining months,
Mr. Surapong said. "The recently announced economic stimulus
measures are likely to benefit the automotive market early next
year.