He said that Thailand's free trade pacts with Australia, New Zealand, India and Japan offered relatively few benefits to expand exports in the vehicle sector.

This is mainly because the local automotive industry is dominated by global carmakers that use Thailand as a regional production base due to the low tariffs offered by bilateral pacts and the Asean free trade agreement (Afta).

Therefore, Thai products automatically get shipped to the home countries of these multinational corporations. More orders means more bargaining power over suppliers, so Thailand's ability to export more cars and automotive parts depends on the policies of the global players more than on the government.

Dr Archanun said trading with emerging economies, especially main regional markets of the global carmakers, would be more advantageous for exporters.

Emerging markets are opening more for international trade in an attempt to increase their own opportunities.

The auto trade is part of regional pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and Afta, giving exporters access to these markets also.

Dr Archanun said that most global players would choose one country in each region as a regional production and export base so they could enjoy the privileges from free trade agreements.

To support the growth of the industry, he added, the government should improve the supply quality of Thai automotive parts manufacturers, especially small and medium-sized producers.

''They should enable their products to meet the requirements of multinational companies both in Thailand and overseas,'' Dr Archanun said.

MOre engineers and technicians are needed to serve the industry as well.

Automotive parts exports from Thailand in the first 11 months of 2007 were worth 426.03 billion baht, up from 342.98 billion a year earlier.