Vietnam ’s vehicle sales suffered a 1 percent drop last year and adramatic 12 percent fall in December, the Vietnam AutomobileManufacturing Association (VAMA) said on Jan. 10, as the auto sectorheads into a difficult year.
Slightly more than 110,000vehicles were sold last year. The association, whose members' salesaccounted for the lion's share on the market, said December sales weredown 12 percent year-on-year to 10,937 units.
VAMAattributed the fall to economic difficulties, high lending interestrates, and a State policy to tighten the purse string of all Stateagencies.
On the other hand, the shorter supply of autocomponents resulting from the Japanese tsunami and Thai flooding arealso blamed for the fall in overall sales.
Whilecommercial vehicles and SUV/MPV/Cross-over units saw a 15 percent and 6percent decline at 46,000 units and 23,000 units respectively, passengercars saw a 22.1 percent jump at 40, 858 units.
Despite the stumble in sales last year, the "big three" are enjoying better sales than 2010.
Vietnamese car maker Truong Hai led the country's sales last year amongthe 17 manufacturers in Vietnam , selling 31,801 cars, up 28.7percent from 2010, VAMA said.
Truong Hai assembles vehicles including the Republic of Korea ’s Kia brand and buses.
Japanese Toyota ranked second, with 29,792 cars, up 26.9 percent from 2010.
Meanwhile, US GM Deawoo sold 10,350 units, up 9.3 percent year-on-year.
No prediction for 2012 sales has been made by the local industry.
However, according to a latest research report, "Vietnam AutomobileForecast 2014" despite the recent economic crisis, sales of passengercars and MPVs in Vietnam are anticipated to post a CAGR (Compound AnnualGrowth Rate) of more than 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively during2011-14.
The research was made by Global Information Inc, a Japan-based information and research service company.
The research concluded that Vietnam 's automobile industry has facedan increase in consolidation among domestic as well as internationalplayers, while the industry players are adopting various strategies suchas forward or backward integration with other industry players tosustain their position and increase their market capacity.
Passenger cars will continue to dominate overall market sales by theend of the forecast period, owing to the relatively low-penetration rateof this segment in the country, it said.
According to theMinistry of Industry and Trade, the national automobike industryboasted 397 businesses, of which, 12.8 percent specialised in assembly,10 percent in production of frameworks, bodies and carriages, 52.7percent in parts and accessories and 24.4 percent in maintenance.
Viet Nam will open the car market completely in 2018 under freetrade agreements, a deadline by which local manufactures need to improvetheir competitiveness.
Taxes on passenger cars of lessthan nine seats and components imported from Southeast Asian countrieswill be completely removed in 2018.
Since the Vietnameseauto industry came into being in 1991 with the licensing of the firsttwo joint ventures, Mekong and VMC, it has benefited from manypreferential policies.
However, analysts say localmanufactures have not made full use of these policies to develop astrong industry and the industry still has to import most of thecomponents it needs. /.
Slightly more than 110,000vehicles were sold last year. The association, whose members' salesaccounted for the lion's share on the market, said December sales weredown 12 percent year-on-year to 10,937 units.
VAMAattributed the fall to economic difficulties, high lending interestrates, and a State policy to tighten the purse string of all Stateagencies.
On the other hand, the shorter supply of autocomponents resulting from the Japanese tsunami and Thai flooding arealso blamed for the fall in overall sales.
Whilecommercial vehicles and SUV/MPV/Cross-over units saw a 15 percent and 6percent decline at 46,000 units and 23,000 units respectively, passengercars saw a 22.1 percent jump at 40, 858 units.
Despite the stumble in sales last year, the "big three" are enjoying better sales than 2010.
Vietnamese car maker Truong Hai led the country's sales last year amongthe 17 manufacturers in Vietnam , selling 31,801 cars, up 28.7percent from 2010, VAMA said.
Truong Hai assembles vehicles including the Republic of Korea ’s Kia brand and buses.
Japanese Toyota ranked second, with 29,792 cars, up 26.9 percent from 2010.
Meanwhile, US GM Deawoo sold 10,350 units, up 9.3 percent year-on-year.
No prediction for 2012 sales has been made by the local industry.
However, according to a latest research report, "Vietnam AutomobileForecast 2014" despite the recent economic crisis, sales of passengercars and MPVs in Vietnam are anticipated to post a CAGR (Compound AnnualGrowth Rate) of more than 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively during2011-14.
The research was made by Global Information Inc, a Japan-based information and research service company.
The research concluded that Vietnam 's automobile industry has facedan increase in consolidation among domestic as well as internationalplayers, while the industry players are adopting various strategies suchas forward or backward integration with other industry players tosustain their position and increase their market capacity.
Passenger cars will continue to dominate overall market sales by theend of the forecast period, owing to the relatively low-penetration rateof this segment in the country, it said.
According to theMinistry of Industry and Trade, the national automobike industryboasted 397 businesses, of which, 12.8 percent specialised in assembly,10 percent in production of frameworks, bodies and carriages, 52.7percent in parts and accessories and 24.4 percent in maintenance.
Viet Nam will open the car market completely in 2018 under freetrade agreements, a deadline by which local manufactures need to improvetheir competitiveness.
Taxes on passenger cars of lessthan nine seats and components imported from Southeast Asian countrieswill be completely removed in 2018.
Since the Vietnameseauto industry came into being in 1991 with the licensing of the firsttwo joint ventures, Mekong and VMC, it has benefited from manypreferential policies.
However, analysts say localmanufactures have not made full use of these policies to develop astrong industry and the industry still has to import most of thecomponents it needs. /.
