Vietnam's auto sales were estimated to fall by 3 percent month-on-month to 9,360 units in July, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) reported on August 15.

However, it noted that this figure was still up 26 percent against July last year. This is the fourth consecutive month the total sales have been higher than the same period last year.

Of the sum, 3,959 cars were sold apart from 5,401 trucks and commercial vehicles. Car sales were up 2 percent against June, while trucks were down by 7 percent.

The sales of locally assembled cars in July rose by 3 percent month-on-month to 7,676 units, but the increase could not compensate for the sharp 24 percent drop in Completely Built Unit (CBU) sales to 1,684 units. The decrease was in marked contrast to the previous four months' upward trend.

VAMA members sold 8,209 vehicles in July, almost the same as June's figure and up 23 percent year-on-year, said association chairman Jesus Metelo Arias.

Notably, while multi-purpose vehicles and passenger cars posted higher sales than both previous months and their 2012 equivalent, commercial vehicle sales fell 24 percent and 10 percent compared to June and same period last year respectively.

VAMA said that two agents, Vinacomin-Vinacoal and Vinaxuki, reported zero sales in July.

Impressive sales surges were recorded by Toyota (2,995 units), GM (460 units), Ford (685 units), and Honda (510 units).

The July figure has extended auto sales to 59,197 vehicles from the January to July, an increase of 18 percent from a year ago. Of these, car sales were up 25 percent and sales of trucks and commercial vehicles were up 13 percent.

With the current trend of recovery, together with the implementation of registration fee reductions in major cities, auto sales this year could be as high as 110,000 to 112,000 units, VAMA said in the report, having revised its earlier forecast of 100,000 units.-VNA