New vehicle sales in Vietnam totaled 3,868 in September, up 21% year on year, according to the Vietnam Auto Manufacturers Association (VAMA).
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Commercial vehicle sales accounted for the highest growth, with sales up 28%. These included 1,378 trucks and vans plus 1,248 SUVs.
Toyota led the market with sales of 1,260 vehicles, up 33% on a year ago. Bus and truck maker Truong Hai ranked second with 509 units, up 13%, thanks to its strong sales of light trucks. Truong Hai assembles Hyundai and Kia vehicles, but in April 2005 it started assembling Foton (Beiqi Futian) brand Chinese light trucks.
Ford sold 267 cars in September, up 7%, while Mitsubishi sold 221 vehicles (+6%) and Mercedes-Benz sold 132 vehicles (+2%).
Vietnam currently has 12 foreign-backed car assemblers. The most recent entrant is Honda, which began operations in Vietnam in August 2006. It has built a new plant in the suburbs of Hanoi with 10,000 units capacity. By 2010 it expects to have invested $60m in the plant to establish welding, painting, engine assembly and final assembly operations, and set up a sales network. Honda will initially assembly the Civic. The company has already had success in the motorcycle market in Vietnam. Having entered the market in 1997, it sold 617,000 units in 2005, an increase of 20% on year earlier.
According to the Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam has about 700,000 private-owned cars compared with 17m motor bikes.
