Looking at the sales statistics of the car manufacturers in the Vietnamese market, many people still can’t believe their eyes. Hyundai Thanh Cong recorded sales of 2,033 cars, with the best-selling Accent selling 365 cars, Kia selling 1,286 cars, and Toyota even worse: 1,248 cars, with the best-selling model Raize selling 181 cars.
According to the report of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), the sales of member companies only reached 11,633 cars in February, a 40% decrease compared to January and a 50% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. If we also include Hyundai Thanh Cong (2,033 cars), the total sales only reached 13,666 cars.
This number is only slightly higher than the sales of a brand like Toyota or Hyundai in a peak month in 2023 or 2022 (in December 2023, Hyundai Thanh Cong achieved sales of 10,844 cars).
Source: VAMA, HTC.
Looking at the broader picture, most car brands have recorded a 40-60% decrease in sales compared to the previous month. Taking Toyota as an example, the key sales forces of the brand like Vios, Corolla Cross, Veloz Cross only achieved sales of 170, 106, and 146 cars – extremely low compared to the sales in normal months, while Hyundai Accent, Creta, or Santa Fe also only recorded sales of 365, 238, and 132 cars.
The top 10 best-selling cars in the market in the past month also did not have any models surpassing 1,000 cars, with the highest being Ford Ranger with 880 cars, followed by Xpander with 641 cars. At the bottom of the group, Hyundai Grand i10 only sold 263 cars and still made it into the top 10. Particularly, no Toyota models were present in the top-selling cars of the month – something that has never happened since the monthly rankings were established.
One reason given by many manufacturers is that February coincides with the Lunar New Year holiday, disrupting the buying and selling activities of consumers. However, it is also worth mentioning that in previous years, during the months coinciding with the Lunar New Year, the auto market sales did not plummet to this extent.
Top 10 best-selling cars in Vietnam in February 2024. Source: VAMA, HTC.
According to some market watchers in Vietnam’s auto market, February is considered the “lowest point” of the market in many years with a series of unfavorable factors for car buying and selling activities. In January, 2 years 2024 witnessed the period of a 50% reduction in registration fees for domestically assembled cars – most people who intend to buy have already consolidated to make payments in December 2023. Moving on to February, a few others will still try to buy cars for Tet after receiving Tet bonuses, making February a surprisingly low point.
Not to mention that the overall economy is still in a difficult phase, with no clear signs of recovery causing many people to be hesitant to spend a large amount of money on buying cars. This is also the main reason why car sales in Vietnam decreased by about 30% in 2023 and seemed even more bleak in the first 2 months of 2024.
Car manufacturers expect car sales to grow in the coming months but are cautious when it comes to specific numbers. Even many people believe that it will not be until the second half of 2024 that car sales will be able to pick up again.
At this time, many car brands are launching promotional programs to attract customers, mainly offering discounts of 50% or 100% on registration fees to clear inventory, especially for 2023 VIN-numbered cars. Even some have postponed the launch of new cars to focus on clearing out old models.
