Honda Vietnam on October 18 publicized its business performance over the past six months, showing its automobile sales surged 102% year-on-year and it held a motorcycle market share of 76.6%.

A new motorcycle introduced by Honda Vietnam is seen in this file photo

From  April to September 2018, Honda Vietnam sold 1.26 million motorcycles, up 12% year-on-year, resulting in its market share of 76.6%, according to the Japanese motorcycle and auto producer.

The Honda Vision scooter was the most sought after over the six-month period. Some 274,346 units were consumed, making up 22% of the company’s total sold motorcycles. Besides this, in the manual transmission motorcycle segment, the Wave Alpha of Honda was among the models most attractive to customers at the time. Honda Vietnam sold 228,216 Wave Alpha units, accounting for 18% of the total.

Honda Vietnam said that the eye-popping figure resulted from 16 new models being launched by the company at the time, of which nine Honda motorbike models were introduced to the Vietnamese market for the first time at an inauguration ceremony by the Honda Moto store in May. This event marked Honda’s entry into a new business segment in the domestic market. 

Accordingly, the Honda Moto store, as of September, sold 383 units, far beyond the expectations of the company. In addition, Honda Vietnam in August launched a new PCX Hybrid model, the world’s first mass-produced motorized scooter equipped with a motorcycle hybrid system.

Further, Honda Vietnam opened 15 more Honda Executive Authorized Dealers (HEAD), taking the total to 785 HEADs nationwide.

In addition to its strong performance on the local market, Honda Vietnam boosted exports. During the April-September period, it shipped abroad 80,272 completely built-up (CBU) units and earned total export revenue of US$191 million, including shipments of CBUs and accessories, up 14% year-on-year.

Regarding the auto sector, Honda Vietnam showed positive growth over the six-month period, with 14,011 units sold, rising a whopping 102% year-on-year. The company sold 5,124 City cars, making up 37% of the company’s total auto sales.

As Honda was one of the first auto importers to overcome the barrier of the Government’s Decree 116 on auto manufacture, assembly, import, maintenance and warranty services, the company achieved success in the imported auto segment. In particular, Honda sold 4,802 CR-V automobiles over the six-month period, accounting for 34% of Honda’s total automobile sales.

Meanwhile, Honda Vietnam on September 18 debuted its HR-V, a 5-seat SUV, to the local market.

According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association, in the year to September, the market had consumed 186,422 automobiles of various types, inching down 1% year-on-year, of which the sale of locally assembled vehicles grew by 11%, while imported ones tumbled some 34% due to restrictions in Decree 116.

SGT