Total car sales in Vietnam continued to crash last month, making it the 8th bad months in a row for the industry and seriously denting hopes of an imminent recovery.

August sales hit nearly 6,448 units, declining 4 percent from July and 33 percent over the same month last year, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) said in a statement.

Of the figure, 2,012 passenger cars and 2,927 commercial vehicles were sold, down 52 and 10 percent respectively, compared to the same period of last year while almost all car-makers, including Truong Hai, Toyota , Mercedes-Benz, Honda, GM, Ford, Mitshubishi, Isuzu and VMC, suffered the slump.

Many saw sales drop by more than two-thirds on the same period last year.

VAMA chairman Laurent Charpentier said the reduction in car sales was only partially due to the economic downturn. The main reason was the fact that the industry was influenced by the ghost month (Lunar July).

He predicted that the first days of September would still be affected by the ghost period but the month would end on a higher note than August.

Last month, an increase in sales was only enjoyed by four car-makers including Honda, Vinamotor and VEAM. Notably, Honda sales soared by 100 percent against the same period last year.

Experts predicted total sales of the market this year might reach 88,000 units by the year's end, representing a fall of 4.6 percent on 2011, the association said.

The auto industry recession is expected to reduce its annual contribution to the State budget, which had been estimated to hit 2 billion USD.-VNA