Customers inspect a Suzuki car on display. November auto sales slightly improved as local demand is picking up towards the year’s end - Photo: Quoc Hung

Auto sales in November slightly rebounded thanks to a mild increase in local demand towards the year’s end, carmakers said.

Toyota Vietnam last month sold nearly 3,000 units, up roughly 500 units against a month earlier, while Truong Hai had 2,424 units consumed, a month-on-month pickup of 288 units. Honda Vietnam sold 371 units, soaring 157 units over the previous month, and Mercedes-Benz Vietnam sold 187 units, surging by 58 units.

A number of other auto makers like Ford Vietnam, GM Vietnam and Isuzu Vietnam also reported a slight improvement in their business performance.

Several auto makers said November sales stayed at the same level or a bit lower than the level reported in the same period last year. It is because around this time last year carmakers from Japan and the United States faced a shortfall of components for assembling due to the severe flood in Thailand which is home to many auto parts suppliers for the region and the world including Vietnam.

Toyota had two plants suffering from the flooding, resulting in Toyota Vietnam in November last year lacking parts for production and only selling 2,118 units. Similarly, Vinastar (Mitsubishi) at that time sold a mere 138 units, Honda Vietnam 297 units and Isuzu Vietnam 106 units.

Sales performance of auto makers in November bounced back a little but the prospect of the year-end auto market is still gloomy compared to the same period in previous years. Given the current economic slump, consumers, organizations and enterprises are tightening spending.

Local dealers have proposed auto makers launch more promotions, discounts and supports for buyers to boost sales.

Based on such a poor performance over the past time, auto producers forecast this year’s sales volume would drop by some 30% year-on-year.

The Saigon Times Daily