Vietnam’s Auto Sales Overview for December 2024

The Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) has disclosed that December 2024 saw sales of 31,598 vehicles. This represents a significant drop of 29% from November and an 18% decline compared to December 2023.

This downturn was expected as many consumers hurried to purchase vehicles in the months leading up to December to take advantage of a temporary 50% reduction in vehicle registration tax, which applied only to locally manufactured cars.

Despite the monthly decline, December’s sales figures exceeded those from the same month last year. The expiration of the tax incentive led to a sharp decrease in the sales of locally assembled vehicles, which fell by 49% to 12,862 units. Conversely, the imports, referred to as complete built units (CBU), experienced a minor dip of just 2%, totaling 18,736 units.

Although December’s sales figures fell short of expectations, the overall market performance for 2024 was robust, with total sales reaching 340,142 vehicles, marking a 12.6% increase relative to 2023. This indicates the strong commitment and efforts from VAMA members in the industry.

In terms of individual manufacturer performances, Toyota led with over 68,000 units sold, a significant rise from 59,207 in 2023. Mitsubishi’s sales jumped by 33.4% to 41,198 units, while Honda’s sales rose by nearly 19% to 28,267 vehicles. Ford achieved its best annual sales ever, reaching 42,175 units, representing a 10% increase from the previous year.

TC Motor, handling Hyundai vehicles and not affiliated with VAMA, reported a minor decline of 0.4% from 2023, selling 67,168 vehicles. In contrast, VinFast, a fully Vietnamese automobile company, had a record-breaking year with 87,000 cars delivered, including models VF3 and VF5.

Overall, the Vietnamese automotive sector showcased a projected capacity of approximately 500,000 vehicles in 2024, coming close to the all-time high of 509,141 units reached in 2022.

Positive trends were also noted in the shift towards electric and eco-friendly vehicles, with increased availability of hybrids mainly from Japanese manufacturers, leading to nearly 10,000 hybrid cars sold, according to VAMA’s data.

The market for electric vehicles also expanded with various Chinese brands entering the scene alongside VinFast.

Experts anticipate that the auto market will continue to grow steadily in 2025.