The Vietnamese car market in February 2024 recorded a gloomy buying power and a sharp decline in sales, dragging down the sales of hybrid cars. Since the beginning of 2024, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) has provided specific data on the sales of these hybrid cars.
Contrary to the expectations of January, the hybrid car segment witnessed a significant drop in sales with only 205 units, down over 64% from January.
The Honda CR-V e:HEV is the best-selling model with a sales volume of 77 units, a 120% increase from January, accounting for nearly half of the VAMA members’ hybrid car sales in February 2024. The CR-V e:HEV RS version, despite its high price of VND 1,259 billion, is a rare hybrid car model that recorded positive growth during the Lunar New Year month. Accumulated for 2 months, this model reached a sales volume of 112 units, accounting for 14.3% of the total hybrid car sales in the market.
Notably, the sales volume of the CR-V hybrid in February was only 7 units less than the gasoline-powered version (84), accounting for 47% of the total sales of the car line. This shows the increasing popularity of this “green” version even without receiving price support policies like other models.
The hybrid car sales leader last month was the Suzuki Ertiga, unfortunately dropping to the bottom with the greatest decrease to 38 units sold, down 91.1% from the 427 units in January. In 2 months, 465 units were delivered to customers, accounting for nearly 60% of the market share.
Following CR-V and Ertiga are the Toyota models. Toyota is one of the popular brands distributing 6 hybrid car models in the Vietnam market, including Yaris Cross, Corolla, Corolla Cross, Innova Cross, Camry, and Alphard. There are a total of 89 Toyota cars sold, down 21% from the previous month, of which the Innova Cross model increased the highest by 242% in the segment. Although Toyota has the most products being sold in Vietnam, there are no Toyota hybrid models selling more than 30 units in February.
In the last position is the Kia Sorento hybrid with only 1 unit delivered in February. In addition, brands such as Hyundai, BMW, Lexus, Volvo, Mercedes, and some other brands do not disclose separate sales figures for hybrid cars.
Despite having many advantages such as fuel efficiency, environmental protection, and owning many new technologies, hybrid cars are currently still difficult to access for users due to their higher prices than traditional internal combustion engine cars. According to VAMA, only 781 hybrid cars were sold in the first two months of 2024, accounting for about 2% of the total market.
In Vietnam, hybrid cars do not enjoy the same incentives as electric cars. However, with the continued strong push for greenization in 2024, the hybrid car market will have more growth opportunities.
Many Vietnamese people have started to want to use green cars to reduce fuel consumption, limit pollution, or find models with different operating capabilities from traditional cars. Hybrid cars are a familiar and more accessible choice compared to electric cars, which require changes in usage habits.
Note that, according to information from dealers, many brands are “starting to introduce” new models and versions in 2024, including Toyota Corolla Cross 2024, Mitsubishi Xpander HEV, and Haval Jolion. This initiative will contribute to boosting the recovery and increase of hybrid car sales in the coming months.
