The newly released reports by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturer Association (VAMA) and TC Group showed that the car sales bounced back in May after the gloomy April.

Mercedes-Benz and VinFast did not show their figures. Hyundai announced its sales separately. The statistics about the entire market released by VAMA were the sales of 17 of its member companies and imports of non-VAMA manufacturers.

VAMA reported that 25,794 automobiles of all kinds were sold in May, an increase of 6 percent over April and 24 percent over May 2023. Meanwhile, TC Group reported that 4,914 Hyundais were sold in the same month, up 14.9 percent over April and 37.3 percent over May 2023 (3,579 cars).

The total number of automobiles sold in May as announced by VAMA and Hyundai was 30,708, up 7.27 percent over April (28,626) and 26.4 percent over the same period last year (24,301). 

Regarding vehicle types, the two reports showed that 22,162 cars were sold, including 18,235 cars reported by VAMA and 3,297 Hyundai cars reported by TC Group, 8,279 commercial vehicles and 267 specialized vehicles.

The number of domestically assembled automobiles sold as reported by VAMA was 11,895 (up 0.02 percent over April) and CBU (complete built unit) imports were 13,809 (up 12 percent).

As such, in the first five months of the year, the total number of automobiles sold as shown in VAMA and TC Group reports was 127,643 (including 108,309 reported by VAMA and 19,334 by TC Group). The figure represented a 6.44 percent decrease in comparison with the same period 2023 (136,430).

Toyota continued to lead automobile manufacturers in sales with 5,356 automobiles (+ 19 percent compared with April 2024), followed by Hyundai with 4,914 (+ 14.9 percent). Ford stayed firmly in the third position with 3,270 products sold (+ 7 percent). The fourth position belonged to Mitsubishi with 3,151 products sold (+2 6 percent). Meanwhile, Kia fell to the fifth position with 2,315 products sold (- 9 percent).

The surge in the number of automobiles sold in May was attributed to new sale strategies by manufacturers. They tried to attract clients by cutting selling prices or giving 50-100 percent of vehicle registration tax to buyers.

Honda Vietnam, for example, offered 50-100 percent of vehicle registration tax to buyers of CR-V, City, HR-V, Accord and Civic models. The price of Toyota Vios dropped sharply by VND50 million. Hyundai also slashed prices of Santa Fe, Custin and Accent by ten to hundreds of million dong.

Dinh Quy