Bangkok  - Thai auto sales are expected to drop 22 per cent this year according to forecasts by the country's largest automaker, local media reported Saturday.

Toyota Motor Thailand expects commercial vehicle sales to drop nearly 30 per cent, and passenger car sales to fall just over 10 per cent, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.

For the first half of 2009 total sales were 231,428 units, which was a drop of 28 per cent from the same period last year.

Toyota said it believes the market has already bottomed out and that sales will not be as slow in the second half of 2009, bringing the total fall for the year to about 22 per cent.

Total auto sales in Thailand peaked in 2005 at 730,000 units but in 2008 were down to 615,000 units. The firm projects sales to fall to 480,000 in 2009. (dpa)