Car Sales in Vietnam Fall 6 per cent On-Year in 2004

Car Sales in Vietnam Fall 6 per cent On-Year in 2004

Foreign-led automakers in Vietnam sold 40,138 automobiles in 2004, down 6 per cent against the year earlier, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA).

In December, 11 foreign-invested carmakers retailed 7,309 units, a 5 per cent fall compared with the same period last year.

The decrease in sales output is attributed to the rise in special consumption tax to 24 per cent from 5 per cent since the beginning of last year. However, the sales grew in the last months of 2004 when the government still decided to raise the special consumption tax to 40 per cent from January 1 this year.

Vina Star Motors Corp. led the auto market with 1,385 units in December but ranked third in the whole year with 5,384 units sold.

Ford Vietnam dropped to third place with 1,017 units from the first in November but still secured the second largest market share in 2004 with 5,618 units.

Vietnam Motors Corp. (VMC) ranked second when selling 1,060 cars in December but standing at sixth place in the whole year.

Toyota Vietnam fell to fourth place, the worst situation in its history in Vietnam, selling only 992 cars in December, down 34 per cent year on year. However, Toyota is still the largest automaker in Vietnam in 2004 with 9,150 automobiles sold, holding 22.8 per cent of the local market share.

Isuzu and Suzuki Vietnam (Visuco) saw the highest growth rates of 72 per cent and 70 per cent, selling 580 and 659 cars in December, respectively.

* The following table details car sales and market shares of the 11 foreign-invested carmakers in Vietnam in December as well as in the whole 2004:

• (Source: VAMA)