Vietnam’s new vehicle market continued to rebound in April 2021, with sales surging by over 75% to 18,941 units from weak year-earlier sales of 10,816 units, according to wholesale data released by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association (VAMA).
GDP growth is estimated to have expanded by 4.5% year on-year in the first quarter of 2021 after growing by an average of 2.8% in 2020, driven mainly by strong growth in exports and buoyant foreign direct investment (FDI).
Sales in the first four months of the year were almost 53% higher at 92,892 units from 60,825 units a year earlier, with passenger vehicle sales rising by 54% to 68,369 units while commercial vehicle sales were up by over 49% at 24,523 units.
Truong Hai (Thaco) group, the local assembler and distributor of brands such as Kia, Mazda, Peugeot, BMW-Mini and a significant player in the commercial vehicle segment, reported an almost 73% surge in group sales to 35,389 units in the four-month period. This includes a 115% jump in Kia sales to 14,930 units, a 45% rise in Mazda sales to 9,009 units and a 30% increase in Thaco truck sales to 8,295 units.
Toyota sales rose by 15% to 18,973 units year-to-date while Mitsubishi Motors sales rose by 77% to 10,381 units; Honda 8,711 units (+42%); Ford 8,478 units (+85%); and Suzuki 4,324 (+61%).
The VAMA data did not include sales by domestic start-up Vinfast, which delivered 29,480 vehicles in Vietnam in 2020. The company reported an almost 17% rise in sales to 2,717 units in April, bringing the year-to-date total to 9,566 units.

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