Jan-Aug auto sales fall 30% in Vietnam, Mitsubishi Xpander bestseller

Members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA), not including VinFast and Hyundai, sold 184,554 vehicles in Jan-Aug this year, down 30% year-on-year.

Mitsubishi Xpander was the best-selling model.

The total sales included 136,833 passenger cars, down 34% year-on-year; 46,205 commercial vehicles, down 13%; and 1,516 special-purpose vehicles, down 61%.

The number of completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles was 104,277, down 32% year-on-year; and that of completely-built-up (CBU) units fell 27% to 80,277.

In August, vehicle sales reached 22,540, down 27% year-on-year. The figure included 17,335 passenger cars, 5,036 commercial vehicles, and 169 special-purpose vehicles. The number of CKD units was 13,118 and that of CBU units was 9,422.

Outside of VAMA, VinFast, the automaker arm of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup, said it has stopped compiling monthly reports starting August and will do quarterly ones instead, per requirements of information disclosure on the U.S. stock market.

Hyundai reported sales of 35,191 units in January-August, according to a report by TC Group, the manufacturer and official retailer of Hyundai vehicles in Vietnam. Its August sales figure was 3,145 units.

As a result, Hyundai was the best-selling brand in Vietnam in the first eight months of this year. Other top names were Toyota with 34,372; Ford with 23,366; Mitsubishi with 18,783; and Honda with 12,516.

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 58,042 units in the period. This included 20,256 Mazda and 24,120 KIA units, also top selling brands in Vietnam.

Mazda CX-5, a sport utility vehicle (SUV), topped the August sales chart for models with 1,725 units; followed by Mitsubishi Xpander, a seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), with 1,701 units; Toyota Corolla Cross, an SUV, with 1,694; Ford Ranger, a pick-up truck, with 1,113; and KIA Sonet, a crossover, with 1,065.

In January-August, the best-selling models were Mitsubishi Xpander with 12,269; Ford Ranger with 9,888; Hyundai Accent with 9,829; Toyota Corolla Cross with 9,160, and Mazda CX-5 with 8,813.