Car imports in November dropped 10.4% month on month to 12,237 units, according to initial statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Nearly half of the imported cars (5,927 vehicles) were from Thailand, followed by Indonesia with 3,823 and China 1,204. Together the three countries accounted for 90% of the total number.

The aggregate number of imported cars in the first 11 months of 2020 reached 92,261, down 30.5% from the same period last year. Industry insiders attributed the decrease to the grave impact of COVID-19 in other countries.

Another reason was the Government’s latest reduction of registration fees for domestically-assembled and manufactured automobiles, which encouraged customers to buy locally-made cars.

Members of Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) reported total sales of 36,359 vehicles in November, up 9% against the previous month.

The figure 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%.

However, 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.
With the recovery and positive market movements, the automobile industry is forecast to grow in 2021 when the domestic consumption demand is expected to rise.