Vietnam imported a total of 75,437 assembled cars in the first six months of 2019, six times more than in the same period last year, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

The value of imported cars also increased by more than five times during the January-June period, reaching 1.63 billion USD.

Of the imported cars, 54,927 vehicles were nine-seat cars or smaller, up six-fold year-on-year, and 17,879 were trucks, also up more than six-fold. 

In June alone, a total of 10,540 cars were imported with a total value of 254 million USD, a year-on-year increase of 26.5 percent.

Thailand was the biggest source of cars imported into Vietnam last month with 7,575 units. It was followed by Indonesia with 1,468 and China with 653. 

The country also imported 274 cars from the Republic of Korea and 150 vehicles from Japan. These five markets accounted for 96 percent of all vehicle imports into Vietnam in June.

Vietnam imported 7,145 cars with nine seats or fewer in June, worth a total of 136.9 million USD, accounting for 67.8 percent of its total automobile imports.

There were 2,731 trucks imported worth a total of 77.1 million USD and 654 vehicles with special purposes worth 40.3 million USD. 

June also saw Vietnam purchase 291 million USD worth of car components, down 18.4 percent month-on-month. Suppliers of parts were mainly from the Republic of Korea, Japan, Thailand, China, Indonesia and Germany.