Automobile sales in the two first quarters of 2018 went down 6 percent compared to the same period last year to reach 125,659 units, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAVA) reported on July 10. 

Notably, the sales of domestically-assembled automobiles were estimated at 106,678, up 10 percent, whilst imported ones slumped 49 percent year-on-year, reaching only 19,039. 

VAMA said as many as 21,913 units of vehicles were sold in June alone, down 5 percent month-on-month. 

Among the total, the sales of special-purpose vehicles saw the strongest fall at 24 percent down to 447 units, while that of commercial and passenger vehicles decreased by 8 and 1 percent to 6,281 and 15,185 units, respectively. 

Almost all VAMA members reported a decline in sales over the last six months with Toyota’s Lexus brand witnessing the biggest drop at 83 percent; followed by Ford at 33 percent; Nissan at 26 percent; Toyota and Mercedes-Benz at 13 percent; and GM Vietnam at 9 percent. 

Experts attributed the situation to Decree No.116/2017/ND-CP issued by the Government on conditions for production, assembling, import, trading, and the maintenance service supply activities of domestic firms.

Across the whole market, the only imports were Honda’s four models (including its CR-V, Civic, Jazz, and Accord brands), and GM Vietnam’s two models of Chevrolet Trailblazer and Colorado for distribution in the first half of 2018.

Aside from Honda Vietnam and GM Vietnam, since the beginning of this year, no car company has distributed imported vehicles to the market due to the requirements of the decree, which took effect at the beginning of the year.

Recently, Toyota Vietnam has announced the sale price of three imported vehicle models including Fortuner, Hilux, and Hiace. These models will be officially distributed to the market in August. 

Other automakers such as Ford, Nissan, and Mitsubishi also said that they are trying to complete relevant procedures required in the decree. They hope to import and distribute new models to the market at the end of the third quarter or the beginning of the last quarter of this year. 

As such, vehicles supplied in the market from the beginning of the year until now and from now until the end of the year are still mostly manufactured and assembled in Vietnam with leading businesses and brands such as Hyundai Thanh Cong, GM Vietnam, Truong Hai Automobile JSC (Thaco) with the top brands of Mazda, Kia, and Peugeo.-VNA