Auto sales in Vietnam fall 30% in Jan-Jul, Mitsubishi Xpander tops sales

Vehicles sales by members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA), which does not include VinFast and Hyundai, dropped 30% year-on-year to 162,014 in the first seven months of this year.

They included 119,498 passenger cars, down 34% year-on-year; 41,169 commercial vehicles, down 13%; and 1,347 special-purpose vehicles, down 63%.

The number of completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles hit 91,159, down 34% year-on-year; and that of completely-built-up (CBU) units fell 25% to 70,855.

In July, vehicles sales reached 24,687 units, down 18% year-on-year. The figure included 19,221 passenger cars, 5,318 commercial vehicles, and 148 special-purpose vehicles. The number of CKD units was 13,575 and that of CBU was 11,112.

Outside of VAMA, VinFast, the automaker arm of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup, delivered 3,042 electric vehicles to the market in July, the firm said. VinFast’s January-July sales of 14,680 units included 6,253 VF e34; 4,998 VF 8; 1,977 VF 5 Plus; and 1,452 VF 9.

Hyundai reported sales of 32,046 units in January-July, according to a report by TC Group, the manufacturer and official retailer of Hyundai vehicles in Vietnam. Its July figure was 4,035.

As a result, Hyundai was the best-selling brand in Vietnam in the first seven months of this year. Other top names were Toyota with 30,450; Ford with 20,573; Mitsubishi with 16,365; and Honda with 11,085.

Vietnamese conglomerate Thaco, known for manufacturing and selling vehicles like KIA, Mazda, Peugeot, BMW, and its own Thaco trucks and buses, recorded total sales of 50,035 in the period. It included 17,224 Mazda and 20,811 KIA units.

Regarding models, Mitsubishi Xpander, a seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), topped the July sales chart with 2,586 units; followed by Mazda CX-5 with 1,665; and Hyundai Accent with 1,375. Two electric vehicles in the list were VinFast VF e34 with 1,181 and VinFast VF 5 Plus with 1,000.

In January-July, the best-selling models were Mitsubishi Xpander with 10,568; Hyundai Accent with 8,827; and Ford Ranger with 8,775.