New vehicle sales in Vietnam increased by 18.5% to 28,164 units in December, from 23,775 units a year earlier, according to data released by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association (VAMA).
The data did not include some imported models, meaning that the actual market size is larger than these figures suggest.
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The VAMA data suggests the vehicle market expanded by just over 30% to 271,833 units last year, from 208,566 in the previous year, reflecting strong economic growth fuelled by low interest rates and rising exports and investment.
Sales of passenger cars, SUVs and MPVs combined increased by just over 36% to 159,501 units last year, from 117,288 units previously year, while commercial vehicle sales were more than 23% higher at 112,332 units – up from 91,278 units in 2015.
Toyota was the leading brand in 2016, with sales rising by over 13% to 57,036 units. Truong Hai (Thaco) group, the local assembler and distributor of brands such as Kia, Mazda, Peugeot and Hyundai, reported a more than 40% jump in group sales to 112,847 units.
Ford's sales increased by close to 40% to 29,011 units last year, while Honda's sales rose by 38% to 11,501 units; and GM Vietnam's were 32% higher at 9,726 units.
