Hyundai led all brands in January sales with 7,428 units. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi – As many as 30,742 cars were sold in Vietnam in January, a decline of 34 percent compared to the previous month, according to a monthly report issued by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) on February 15.

Of the sold units, 25,279 were passenger cars, down 31 percent year-on-year; 5,177 were commercial vehicles, down 44 percent; and 286 were special-purpose vehicles, down 53 percent.

Sales of domestically assembled cars reached 17,782 units in January, a month-on-month decrease of 31 percent, while imported completely-built-units (CBUs) were 12,960 units, down 38 percent.

A 50 percent reduction in registration fee, which came into effect in December 2021 and will last until the end of May this year, was a reason why customers preferred domestically assembled cars.

However, experts said these figures did not fully reflect the situation in Vietnam’s automobile market, as they did not include sales of brands such as Audi, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Volkswagen, and Volvo.

TC Motor and VinFast were reported to sell 7,428 and 2,103 vehicles in January. If figures from TC Motor and VinFast are included, a total of 40,273 units were sold across the country during the month.

Hyundai led all brands in January sales with 7,428, followed by Toyota with 6,582; Kia, 5,445; Honda, 3,771; and Mitsubishi, 3,581.

Representatives of TC Motor and domestic automobile assemblers and manufacturers attributed the decline in car sales to difficulties in car registration and other shopping demands on the occasion of Tet (Lunar New Year) Festival. But they believed that the manufacturing and assembling as well as domestic auto market will continue to grow this year with the Government’s supporting measures and the COVID-19 pandemic is gradually better controlled.

According to General Director of Ford Vietnam Pham Van Dung, it is forecast that domestic sales will hit 500,000 units in 2022 as the country’s economy is recovering and a 50 percent reduction in registration fee for domestically assembled cars will be applied until the end of May.