New vehicle sales in Vietnam were just slightly lower at 26,848 units in September 2020 from 27,058 units in the same month of last year, according to wholesale data released by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association (VAMA).
The market had begun to stabilise after declining by almost 30% to 102,720 units in the first half of the year, with sales in August down by less than 4%. Vietnam has avoided falling into recession this year, helped by pre-emptive action early on to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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GDP growth was estimated to have expanded by 2.6% in the third quarter, after growing by 0.4% in the second quarter and by 3.7% in the first quarter, lifted by a surge in exports as the country benefited from the trade war between China and the US.
New vehicle sales in the first nine months of the year declined by just over 21% to 172,537 units from 219,238 units a year earlier, including a 22% fall in passenger vehicle sales to 127,136 units and a 19% decline in commercial vehicle sales to 45,401 units.
Truong Hai (Thaco) group, the local assembler and distributor of Kia, Mazda and Peugeot, and a significant player in the commercial vehicle segment, reported an 11% drop in group sales to 59,709 units in the nine month period. This included a 3% decline in Kia sales to 20,405 units and a 21% fall in Mazda sales to 19,444 units.
Toyota sales declined by close to 28% to 41,109 units year to date while Mitsubishi Motors sales were down by 11% at 17,228 units and Honda sales dropped by 31% to 16,520 units.
