New vehicle sales in Vietnam increased by 8% to 24,774 units in July 2024 from 22,868 a year earlier, according to wholesale data released by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association (VAMA).
The data did not include sales by Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Tesla and Nissan, a growing number of Chinese brands or domestic electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast.
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The market was beginning to recover from very weak levels after 18 months of almost incessant declines. Heavy discounting by dealers had helped support sales but overall demand remained weak and inventories high. Economic growth in the country accelerated to 6.9% year on year in the second quarter from 5.9% in the first quarter, driven mainly by strong export growth and a pick up in manufacturing and service sector activity.
VAMA data showed sales fell 3% to 140,422 units in the first seven month of 2024 from 145,494 a year earlier, including a 7% decline in passenger vehicle sales to 102,293 units while commercial vehicle sales were almost 6% higher at 38,129 units.
Truong Hai (Thaco) group, the local assembler and distributor of several overseas brands and commercial vehicles, reported an 12% drop in group sales to 44,237 units year to date (YTD).
This included a 20% drop in Kia sales to 16,686 units and a 12% fall in Mazda sales to 15182 units, while sales of Thaco commercial vehicles increased 3% to 9,752 units.
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By GlobalDataToyota seven month sales were down by just 5% at 28,816 units with sales of the Hilux pickup truck having stepped up in recent months. Ford saw its sales rise by 1% to 20,801 units underpinned by the popular Ranger, Everest and Transit.
Mitsubishi sales increased 13% to 18,457 units; Honda 12,887 units (+16%) and Suzuki 6,736 units (-26%).
Separate data released by its local distributor showed Hyundai was the best selling auto brand in Vietnam in the first seven months of 2024 with 29,710 deliveries.
VinFast said its global sales increased by 92% year on year to 21,747 units in the first half of 2024 and was targeting 80,000 sales over the full year in a growing number of markets in south east Asia and the Middle East as well as in the US.
The Vietnamese government said it would keep the registration tax for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) at 0% until 2026 while the special consumption tax would remain between 1% and 3%, as part of a broader package of government incentives aimed at attracting BEV sector investment into the country such as cuts in import duty on components and charging equipment.
