Enterprise

The Automotive Industry in Q2: Luxury Cars Lose Steam, While Trucks Make a Comeback

The automotive industry's total revenue on the stock exchange in Q2 2025 reached an impressive figure of over VND 14.1 trillion, marking an 18% increase compared to the same period last year. Even more remarkable was the net profit, which exceeded VND 2.2 trillion, reflecting a 27% surge. However, a distinct polarization emerged, with luxury vehicles continuing to struggle while commercial vehicles, particularly trucks, and several mass-market brands witnessed significant improvements.

Administrator

28 August, 2025

Luxury Car Sales Slump

Two companies associated with Mercedes-Benz distribution, GMA and HAX, have seen a dip in profits.

The consolidated revenue of Hang Xanh Automobile Services (Haxaco, HOSE: HAX) exceeded VND 1,000 billion, a decrease of 8.3%. However, the company’s luxury car segment saw a 40% decline, with the loss offset by sales of MG cars. With nearly VND 25 billion in other income, operating expenses and interest expenses increased, resulting in a net loss of over VND 4.4 billion.

HAX believes that the premium segment continues to face pressure from the downward trend and intense price competition.

Similarly, G-Automobile (HNX: GMA) reported a loss of over VND 6.9 billion. Revenue decreased by 13% to VND 515 billion, while operating expenses and interest expenses increased. The gross profit margin narrowed from 10% to 8.9%. GMA believes that the automotive market still faces challenges and that the company lacks a strong product strategy.

HAX’s luxury car segment profit turns to loss since Q3 2021 (in VND billion)

Source: Author’s compilation

City Auto Avoids Loss with Other Income

Long-time Ford distributor City Auto (HOSE: CTF) also had a challenging quarter, despite a nearly 15% increase in revenue to over VND 2,000 billion. However, selling expenses surged by almost 50% to over VND 107 billion, causing net profit to decrease by 36%, to VND 2 billion.

The company avoided a loss thanks to other income of VND 39 billion in support from its main supplier.

Savico Believes the Market Has Improved Significantly

Contrary to the cautious outlook of many businesses, Saigon General Service Corporation (Savico, HOSE: SVC) believes that the automotive market in Q2 has improved significantly compared to the same period last year. Revenue increased by 23% to VND 6,600 billion, and net profit was nearly VND 73 billion, a 69% increase, mainly from financial activities and other income.

Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (UPCoM: VEA) also reported a 17% increase in profit to VND 2,100 billion, mainly due to nearly VND 2,000 billion in revenue from joint venture/associate companies, likely still from Honda Vietnam, a motorcycle business.

Luxury car distributors still struggled in Q2 2025 (in VND billion)

Source: Author’s compilation

Truck Sales Pick Up

In contrast, the truck segment showed improvement. TMT Automobile (HOSE: TMT) maintained a positive net profit of VND 21 billion after a restructuring process, with a gross profit margin improvement to 12.8%. Revenue decreased by 31% due to a lack of heavy truck supply above 10 tons from the manufacturer, but sales mainly consisted of competitively priced Euro 5 models.

Benefiting from the disbursement of public investment capital and increasing freight transport demand, Vietnam Development Investment Fund (UPCoM: VVS) saw its revenue double to over VND 2,000 billion, the highest since its listing in 2022. Profit increased by 375% to VND 55 billion.

Meanwhile, Truong Long Technology and Automobile (HOSE: HTL) saw an 11% increase in revenue to VND 159 billion, but the gross profit margin decreased from 13.2% to 10.4%, attributed to delays in obtaining type approval for Euro 5 models, resulting in a nearly 60% drop in net profit to approximately VND 4.4 billion.

Truck distributors performed well in Q2 2025 (in VND billion)

Source: Author’s compilation

Toyota Leads in Q2 Sales

According to data from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA, excluding VinFast) and TC Group, the market absorbed 84,367 units in Q2 2025, a slight increase of 6.7% year-on-year, but still significantly lower than the 117,389 units sold in Q2 2022. Compared to Q1, sales volume increased by 19.8%, with a gradual improvement each month.

Total sales volume improved from Q1 (in thousands of units)

Source: Author’s compilation

In terms of rankings, Toyota took the lead with 17,444 units, up 16% from Q2 2024 and a significant 48% jump from Q1 2025. Hyundai (TC Group) ranked second with 12,730 units, an 11% decrease year-on-year but an 11% increase quarter-on-quarter. Ford came in third with 12,218 units, up 27% year-on-year and 29% quarter-on-quarter.

Among the other high-volume brands, Mazda (Thaco) sold 8,344 units, up 19% year-on-year and 31.6% quarter-on-quarter. Mitsubishi sold 7,873 units, down 8% year-on-year but up slightly by 4% from the previous quarter. Kia (Thaco) sold 6,093 units, a 21% decrease year-on-year and a 1.7% dip quarter-on-quarter. Honda sold 5,149 units, an 18% increase year-on-year but a 15% decrease quarter-on-quarter.

In Q2, Thaco sold a total of 22,834 units, a roughly 9.4% increase year-on-year. Internal breakdown shows that Mazda and trucks posted strong gains, making up for the stagnation of Kia.

After a sharp decline in Q1 due to the expiration of preferential registration fees for domestically assembled cars, Toyota, Ford, and Thaco Mazda were the brands that saw the most significant increases in sales in Q2.

Toyota’s sales recovered strongly in Q2 (in units)