Vietnam auto sales up 1% to 163,804 units in Jan-Jul, after slumps in 2023, H1/2024

Members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA), not including VinFast and Hyundai, sold 163,804 units in the first seven months of 2024, up 1% year-on-year.

The figure is an improvement after a long slump. The automobile market dropped 25% to 301,989 units in 2023 and inched down 2% to 134,884 in the first half of 2024, year-on-year. The market grew 33% to 404,635 in 2022.

However, the 163,804 units of January-July 2024 was still a long way off the 232,094 recorded in the same period of 2022.

In the first seven months of 2024, the auto sales included 120,143 passenger cars, up 1% year-on-year; 42,298 commercial vehicles, up 3%; and 1,363 special-purpose vehicles, down 1%.

The number of completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles sold was 81,637, down 12% year-on-year; and that of completely-built-up (CBU) units was 82,167, a 19% growth.

July sales of 28,920 vehicles – 22,848 passenger cars, 5,857 commercial vehicles, and 215 special-purpose vehicles – was up 17% year-on-year and up 9% from the previous month. The numbers of CKD and CBU units sold in the month were 13,788 and 15,132, respectively.

Outside VAMA, Hyundai sold 29,710 units in the seven-month period, according to a report by TC Group, manufacturer and official retailer of the South Korean brand’s vehicles in Vietnam. Its July sales figure was 5,329 units, up 5.6% from one month ago.

As a result, Hyundai was the best-selling brand in Vietnam in the seven months, followed by Toyota (28,816), Ford (20,801), Mitsubishi (18,457), KIA (16,686), Mazda (15,182), and Honda (12,887).

Vietnamese conglomerate Thaco, which manufactures and sells KIA, Mazda, Peugeot and BMW vehicles apart from its own Thaco trucks and buses, recorded total sales of 44,237 units in the period.

Mitsubishi Xforce, a five-seater SUV, topped the July sales chart with 1,748 units; followed by Toyota Vios, a B-class sedan, with 1,745; and Xpander, a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), with 1,492.

Mitsubishi Xpander topped the January-July sales chart with 9,265 units; followed by Ford Ranger, a pickup truck, with 9,019; Mazda CX-5, sport utility vehicle (SUV), with 6,314; and Hyundai Accent, a five-seater sedan, with 5,973.