In March 2024, the decline in new car sales in Vietnam began to slow down. With a year-on-year decline of 8.8%, the decline is no longer more than double digits. Sales volume was 31,831 units. Although the decline was close to 9%, the performance in March can be said to be outstanding compared to the 52% decline in February. On an annual basis, sales in the first three months of 2024 were less than 70,000 units, at 68,309 units. It fell by 18.9% year-on-year, and the decline was still close to two percent. The above sales figures do not include VinFast, a local brand in Vietnam.
The decline in March was mainly caused by the three top brands. The rankings of the two Korean brands have swapped rankings, and they still occupy the first and second positions. But the decline is much higher than parity. Hyundai fell 21.3% year-on-year. The sales volume was only 4,542 units, with a market share of 14.3%. Such a performance is enough to put Hyundai in the first place.
Kia was squeezed out. It ranked second with a large sales volume of 4,342 units. Yes, the share reached 13.6%. The year-on-year decline was 22.9%, which was even worse than that of Hyundai. Hyundai and Kia together control a 27.9% market share. It accounts for more than a quarter.
Toyota fell a little harder. It fell by 31.7% year-on-year, a decline of nearly one-third. It is the brand with the second largest decline. The biggest decline was Toyota's luxury car brand Lexus, which fell by 43.8%. Hino is one of the best performing Toyota brands. It fell 3.1% year-on-year, performing better than average. With 283 units sold, it ranked tenth. The ranking has risen two levels from February.
Among the top 10 brands, Mazda also saw a larger-than-average decline. It fell by 12.3% year-on-year. Sales were 2,350 units. The ranking fell from fourth in February to seventh place.
Ford and Mitsubishi are not bad. The declines of 5.2% and 5.9%, respectively, did not lag behind.
The Honda performed exceptionally well. The year-on-year growth rate was 90.2%, which is the strongest growth among the top 10 brands. However, the ranking is down one notch from February. It ranked sixth with 2,832 units sold.
Suzuki and Isuzu bucked the trend. The increase is not huge, but it is positive. They grew by 8.2% and 1.4%, respectively.
In terms of models, the sales champion and runner-up also swapped places. Sales of the Mitsubishi Xpander plunged 30.9% year-on-year, the largest decline among the top 10 models. However, this popular MPV model still ranks first with 1,582 units sold. The ranking has risen by 1 notch from February. Mitsubishi's new Xforce was loved by the Vietnamese people. With a sales volume of 1,334 units, it directly ranked third.
Ford pickup truck Ranger lost championship position. Sales of 1,539 units fell to second place with a difference of 43 units. Of course, there is good news for this classic pickup. Sales were up 4% compared to the same period last year. Ford's SUV Shaker is also still in the top 10. With sales of 899 units, the ranking fell one level from February and ranked eighth. Year-on-year decrease of 17.4%
Honda also has two models in the top 10 list. And all have good growth. Honda Fengfan ranked fourth with 1,043 units sold. This represents a year-on-year increase of 28.1%. Bucking the trend, it grew by more than a quarter. The Honda HR-V is even better. The year-on-year increase was 125.2%, and the sales volume more than doubled.