Sales of automobiles in November went up 9% against the previous month to 36,359 vehicles, according to Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) said on December 10.

As many as 7,122 commercial cars were sold in the month, down 5% month-on-month, while sales of passenger and special-use vehicles topped 28,755 and 482 units, rising 13% and 25% as compared to September, respectively.

November sales included 23,509 locally-assembled vehicles, up 15%; and 12,850 imported units, increasing 0.7%.

During January-November, 248,768 vehicles were sold, a year-on-year fall of 14%.

Experts said the figures do not reflect overall consumption in the automobile market as they exclude sales of manufacturers that are not VAMA members such as Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Volkswagen, Volvo, and Huyndai Thanh Cong.

With 11,023 sold vehicles, Huyndai Thanh Cong’s TC Motor became the best-selling car brand in Vietnam in November, followed by Toyota with 9,444 units, Kia 6,260 units, Mazda 4,369 units and Mitsubishi 4,033 units.

Experts expect the auto market will become more robust as compared to the situation at the outset of the year since customers are said to scramble to buy cars before the end of 2020 to enjoy the 50% reduction in registration fees.

However, they said the COVID-19 pandemic makes it hard to raise this year’s sales to 322,322 units recorded in 2019.