New vehicle sales in Vietnam declined by 10.5% to 19,613 units in January, from 21,905 units a year earlier, according to member data released by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association (VAMA).
The data do not include some non-affiliated imported brands, which means the actual market size is larger than these figures suggest.
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Last month's decline comes after four years of strong almost uninterrupted growth and reflects fewer working days during the month due to the Lunar New Year holidays. The country's economy continues to benefit from low interest rates and strong investment growth.
Driving overall sales lower last month was a very weak commercial vehicle market, with sales plummeting by almost 38% to 5,107 units from 8,226 units a year earlier. This was offset in part by a more than 6% rise in passenger vehicle sales to 14,506 units, however.
Toyota was the leading brand in January with sales rising by 6.3% to 5,318 units. Truong Hai (Thaco) group, the local assembler and distributor of brands such as Kia, Mazda, Peugeot and Hyundai, reported a more than 27% drop in group sales to 6,511 units – reflecting its heavy exposure to the commercial vehicle sector.
Ford's sales declined by 2% to 2,544 units last month, while Honda's sales rose by 55% to 1,232 units; and GM Vietnam's sales were 21% higher at 1,002 units.
