Domestic car market sees consumption growth in March

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) sold over 36,962 autos in March, up 60 percent on the month, according to a recent VAMA report.

This was the first month of this year where auto sales of VAMA members had strong growth, after decreasing by 34 percent in January and 26 percent in February.

In March, passenger car sales surged 62 percent on month to nearly 28,491, while 7,794 commercial vehicles found customers, up 63 percent, and 677 special-use cars were sold, up 41 percent, according to the report.

Sales of domestically-assembled cars and completely built-up (CBU) cars increased by 50 percent to 21,863 units and 82 percent to 15,099 units per month, respectively.

Apart from VAMA members, non-member automakers Thanh Cong Motor and VinFast sold 7,069 units and 3,471 units last month.

In the first three months of 2022, VAMA members sold 90,506 units, up 27 percent year on year, of which passenger cars were up by 39 percent, commercial vehicles up by 7 percent and special-use vehicles up by 32 percent.

During the first three months, sales of domestically-assembled cars and imported CBU cars increased by 34 percent and 17 percent year on year, respectively.

The market performance showed that in the first three months of 2022, the consumers chose to buy domestically-assembled cars to enjoy an incentive of reducing 50 percent in registration fees according to the Government's Decree 103/2021/NĐ stipulating the level of the registration fee for domestically manufactured and assembled automobiles. This registration fee reduction has been applied from December 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022.

With sales growth of 60 percent on the month and 27 percent on the year in the first quarter of this year, this was an impressive figure in car sales while the market is still being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and facing a shortage of chips and other parts.

Experts said that along with control of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam and the reduction in the registration fees, the domestic auto market would continue its strong growth. The country’s auto sales are expected to reach 500,000 units this year./.