The latest report by VAMA reveals that its member automakers recorded sales of 316,941 passenger cars last year, an on-year increase of 48 per cent. Meanwhile, 82,714 commercial vehicles and 4,980 special-purpose vehicles were sold, down 1.5 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

Auto sales in December fell by about 3 per cent from November to 35,301 units and the number of passenger car sales fell by 8 per cent to 27,262. Deliveries of commercial vehicles grew by 20 per cent to 7,762 units, while those of special-purpose vehicles rose by 6 per cent to 277 units.

Meanwhile, completely knocked-down sales stood at 17,666 units in December, down 6 per cent from the previous month. There were 17,635 completely built vehicles sold in December, a rise of 0.4 per cent.

Automobile sales were generally on a downward trend for the last two months of 2022. Experts cited challenging access to bank loans and rising interest rates as the main causes of this decline, prompting many people to put off their purchases.

Vietnam's automobile market is expected to face difficulties in 2023 as a result of shrinking consumer demand, rising interest rates, and inflation. The interest rates on car loans have not been reduced, which will make it more challenging for customers to buy cars this year.