Of the vehicles sold last month, 32,946 were passenger cars - 75.7 per cent more than in June last year. The remaining 37,611 were commercial vehicles, representing 52.5-per-cent growth over June last year. The one-tonne pickup segment saw year-on-year growth of 46.7 per cent in June, with sales of 31,327 vehicles.

"The main boost came from sales of passenger cars in the sub-compact segment, with various new products in the market," said Toyota Motor Thailand's vice president Vudhigorn Suriyachantananont. "A recovering economy is bringing back consumer confidence to the market. It's a trend that has been seen from the last quarter of 2009."

Small cars that have recently been launched in the Thai market include both hatchback and sedan versions of the Mazda2 and the Nissan March. Over 16,000 units of the Nissan March have already been sold with back-orders extending to more than six months. Ford has also launched both sedan and hatchback versions of its Fiesta, with delivery expected to start next month.

As for accumulated sales over the first six months of 2010, a total of 356,692 vehicles were sold, up 54.1 per cent from the first half of 2009. Passenger-car sales in the first six months reached 153,257 units for year-on-year growth of 59.6 per cent. Commercial-vehicle sales in the first six months reached 203,417 units, or 50.3 per cent more than in the first half of 2009.

Toyota maintained a firm hold on its auto-market leadership last month with sales of 26,969 vehicles, recording year-on-year growth of 43.1 per cent. In second place was Isuzu with sales of 12,687 units for growth of 50.1 per cent, and Honda was third with sales of 12,535 units for growth of 71.2 per cent. Following in fourth and fifth places were Nissan and Mitsubishi with sales of 5,053 and 3,474 vehicles respectively.

One of the highest growth figures has been achieved by Mazda which is in sixth place. It sold 16,895 units in the first six months, up by 240 per cent over 4,968 units sold in the first half of last year. Most of its growth comes from the Mazda2 sub-compact.

"We expect sales to continue strongly this month, as many auto-makers are clearing their back orders. New products coming into the market later this year support the strong demand," Vudhigorn said.