Vietnam's Aug Auto Sales Lowest in 2008: VAMA

4:09:39 PM | 9/11/2008

Domestic automakers sold out 7,809 locally assembled cars in August, the lowest monthly sales since early this year, according to the figures released by the Vietnam Association of Automobile Manufacturers (VAMA).

The association did not explain the sales decrease in the month.

But local authorities have advised local residents to travel more by bus and reduce spending on luxury items like cars to curb traffic jams and double-digit inflation, which soared to an annual rate of 28.3 per cent in August.

Despite a drop of 7.7 per cent in August car sales against July, sales in the first eight months of this year still kept pace with a rising trend with nearly 84,876 cars, trucks and buses sold out, up 104 per cent on-year, the association said.

On-year increase was led by sales of commercial vehicles, which were up 154 per cent from a year ago, while passenger car sales growing 81 per cent to 16,859 units.

Japan's Toyota topped the list, selling 17,430 vehicles in the eight-month period this year, followed by Vietnam-owned Vinamotor and Truong Hai with 16,951 and 12,950 units respectively, VAMA said in the statement.

Demand for cars in Vietnam during the remaining months of this year would slow after the government tripled registration fees to 15 per cent from Aug 14.

Car prices in Vietnam are already among the world's highest, and the local authorities are planning to raise taxes to 20 per cent to cut fuel consumption and reduce traffic congestion.

Recent government statistics showed that the country imported 44,300 fully assembled vehicles valued at US$843 million in January-August, compared with 13,000 vehicles valued at US$260 million in the same period last year.

Imports of vehicles and parts were worth a combined US$1.954 billion from January to August, up from US$744 million a year earlier.

Following table is the breakdown of car sales, market shares and the growth of the 17 VAMA carmakers in January-August 2008:

No	Car marker	Sale (Unit)	On Year Growth ( per cent)
1	Vinamotor*	16,951	N.A.
2	Toyota	17,430	+49
3	Truong Hai	12,950	+104
4	Vinaxuki	6,427	+67
5	GM Daewoo	8,454	+110
6	Ford	4,978	+73
7	Honda	4,836	+111
8	VinaStar (Mitsubishi)	2,104	-22
9	Isuzu*	2,664	+17
10	Visuco (Suzuki)	2,248	+44
11	Mekong (Fiat, Ssangyong, PMC)	1,365	+168
12	Hino*	1,977	+191
13	Mercedes-Benz Vietnam	1,486	+13
14	SAMCO	363	-2
15	VMC (BMW, Mazda, Kia)	392	-41
16	Vinacomin – Vinacoal*	251	+32
17	Vindaco (Daihatsu)
	Total	84,876	+104

Note: *: not including bus chassis. (VAMA Release August 2008)

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