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Vietnam vehicle market surges 56% in December – VAMA

Market rebounded from weak year-earlier volumes.

Vietnam’s new vehicle market surged by 56% to 42,701 units in December 2025 from 27,403 units a year earlier, according to wholesale data released by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association (VAMA). The data do not include some major players in the market, including Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Tesla, Nissan, and domestic automaker VinFast.

After three months of declines, the market last month rebounded strongly from weak year-earlier volumes, when the Vietnamese government discontinued a temporary vehicle registration tax discount. The country’s economy finished the year strongly, with government data showing GDP growth accelerated to 8.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, the fastest quarterly growth rate in 15 years. In the whole of 2025, the economy expanded by 8%, driven by robust domestic consumption, fixed investment, and exports.

Over the full year, the vehicle market expanded by 6% to 313,359 units from 295,979 units in 2024, according to VAMA data, with sales of light passenger vehicles falling by 1% to 218,974 units, while commercial vehicle deliveries increased by almost 25% to 94,385 units.

Truong Hai (Thaco) Group, the local assembler and distributor of several overseas brands and a major player in the commercial vehicle segment, reported a slight sales increase to 91,377 units in 2025. This includes a 49% surge in Thaco commercial vehicle sales to 27,248 units, while Mazda sales fell slightly to 32,455 units and Kia sales dropped by 21% to 27,176 units.

Toyota’s sales increased by 8% to 71,954 units last year, driven by strong Yaris Cross and Vios volumes, while Ford’s sales rose by 20% to 50,450 units; Mitsubishi 44,107 units (+7%); and Honda 28,719 units (+2%).

Domestic automaker VinFast reported separately that it delivered 175,099 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Vietnam last year, while Hyundai’s overall sales dropped by over 20% to 53,530 units.

GlobalData expects sales of light vehicles up to 6 tons gvw in Vietnam to grow by over 4% to 542,764 units in 2026, up from an estimated 520,945 units in 2025, driven by continued strong economic growth and rising consumer demand. The Vietnamese government announced last year that it will continue to exempt BEVs from the vehicle registration tax until the end of February 2027.