Hanoi (VNA) - The Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) has reported that its members posteda 15 percent month-on-month decline in automobile sales in May to 25,585 units,due to the impact of COVID-19 and a shortage of semi-conductor chips for the industry.

Its members sold 17,581 passenger cars in May, 7,482 commercialvehicles, and 522 special-use vehicles, falls of 14 percent, 16 percent, and 33percent, respectively, against April.

Sales of domestically-assembled vehicles were down 20 percentmonth-on-month to 13,825 units, while those of completely-built-up (CBU) vehiclesfell 7 percent to 11,760.

In the January-May period, VAMA members sold 126,894 vehicles,up 53 percent against the same period last year, with a 51 percent rise seen inthe sales of passenger cars, 56 percent in commercial vehicles, and 59 percent inspecial-use vehicles.

These figures do not fully reflect the situation in Vietnam’sautomobile market, however, as they do not include sales of brands such as Audi,Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Volkswagen, and Volvo.

A representative from TC Motor said the company sold 6,053 vehicles in May and 28,477in the first five months of the year. It led all brands in May sales, followed byToyota with 5.139, Kia 3,336, Mazda 2,426, Ford 1,666, and Honda 1,423.

Toyota Vios was the best-seller duringthe month, with sales of 1,789, followed by the Hyundai Accent with 1,620.

Industry analysts said that along with COVID-19, a shortageof semi-conductor chips in both the global and domestic market will continue toslow down production at automobile manufacturers over the remainder of 2021 andeven into 2022./.