Auto sales surge 62% in Q1

Auto sales surge 62% in Q1 Quoc Hung By Quoc Hung – The Saigon Times Daily HCMC – Auto sales last month grew a whopping 62% in the first quarter of this year, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA). The latest statistics of VAMA showed its member companies delivered 16,400 autos to customers last month, soaring 33% month-on-month and 41% year-on-year. The volume included 9,416 passenger vehicles. In all, more than 48,700 vehicles were sold in the first three months of this year, up a staggering 62% compared to the same period last year. Sales of passenger and commercial cars surged 60% and 67% year-on-year to nearly 32,000 and 16,700 units respectively. VAMA said the January-March period saw sales of domestically-assembled cars soar 60% year-on-year to over 34,270 units and completely built-up autos climbed 69% to 14,430 units. In the first quarter of this year, Toyota Vietnam sold more than 10,870 cars, rising 46.4% against the first three months of 2014, while Ford Vietnam delivered 3,848 units to its customers, up 59% over a year ago. Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco) outperformed the two foreign-invested enterprises in the first quarter, with 6,340 commercial and 8,340 passenger cars sold, accounting for 36% of the market share held by VAMA member companies. Given good sales in the first quarter and a steady recovery of the country’s economy, Thaco has set a target of selling 20,000 autos in the April-June period, with 9,000 of them passenger cars and the remainder commercial…