Thailand's auto sales on the domestic market tumbled 21.3 percent year on year in January to 55,208 units as the COVID-19 resurgence impacted the market demand, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said Thursday.

On a monthly basis, the auto sales plunged 46.96 percent compared with December.

The second wave of coronavirus outbreak hit Thailand in mid-December when the auto sales climbed for the second month in a row, up 11.3 percent from one year earlier. In 2020, 792,146 vehicles were sold in the Southeast Asian country, down 21.4 percent from the previous year.

As of Thursday, the country's total COVID-19 tally rose to 25,111, with more than 20,000 of the infections being detected since mid-December.

Thailand is a regional auto production and export base. It exported 74,132 vehicles in January, up 13.53 percent from one year earlier, according to the FTI data.