Vietnamese automobile manufacturers and distributors had a banner month in May as the sales of car experienced a strong monthly growth of 30 percent following a line-up of promotions and discount programmes.

Various promotions and discount programmes were carried out to spur car sales in May.
(Photo: VNA)

A total of 27,373 units were sold in May, surging 18 percent from the same time last year, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) said. The sales included 19,517 passenger cars, 7,345 commercial cars, and 511 special purpose vehicles.

VAMA reported the sales of locally-assembled cars saw modest growth of 8 percent to 15,162 units while that of imported vehicles increased sharply by 75 percent to 12,211 units.

Giants such as Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco), Toyota, Mitsubishi, Ford and Honda claimed the majority of market share. Domestic automaker Thaco led car sales in Vietnam with 7,540 vehicles sold in May (down 14 percent from April), followed by Toyota Motor Vietnam with 6,321 units (up 51 percent).

Meanwhile, Honda Vietnam and Ford Vietnam lost grounds to Mitsubishi, which recorded 3,088 units in car sales in the month. Ford came in 4th place with 3,000 sold vehicles, and Honda in 5th place with 2,975 cars.

During January-May, total car sales in the country reached 126,646 units, a year-on-year increase of 22 percent. 

According to VAMA, price cut was a good strategy to attract buyers.

Toyota Vietnam slashed prices up to 169 million VND (7,240 USD) for its Toyota Hiace model, 40 million VND (1,713 USD) for Toyota Fortuner, and up to 80 million VND (3,427 USD) for Corolla Altis vehicle.

Thaco also raced to reduce auto prices, with CX-5 model 78 million VND (3,342 USD) cheaper than the listed price. Earlier, the firm decided to reduce the price of Mazda 3 vehicle by 50 million VND (2,142 USD).