Names like Creta, Corolla Cross, Xpander … sell more than 12,000 units per year, enough for companies to consider localization in addition to many other conditions.

In the top 10 best-selling car models in Vietnam in 2022, imported cars had 4 names: Toyota Corolla Cross, Toyota Veloz, Mitsubishi Xpander, and Hyundai Creta. These models all sell more than 12,000 units/year, equivalent to an average of 1,000 vehicles/month.

Mitsubishi Xpander

Imported from Indonesia and launched the Vietnamese market in the second half of 2018, Mitsubishi Xpander took only a year to rise to the top of market share in the popular MPV segment priced at less than one billion VND in Vietnam. The appearance of Xpander caused a disturbance in the multi-purpose vehicle group, especially amidst the decline of Toyota Innova.

Youthful design thanks to Dynamic Shield language suitable for the majority, sufficient usability, 7 seats and an accessible price, Xpander appeared later than rivals such as Kia Rondo, Suzuki Ertiga but quickly became number one choice in the segment. Xpander is considered by experts to be the most harmonious product in terms of design and equipment, targeting the needs of both home and transportation service businesses.

In 2022, Xpander surpassed its own record in 2019 when selling more than 22,000 vehicles and was the best-selling imported car model in the segment for 4 consecutive years. Xpander’s market share accounts for nearly 41% of the segment, nearly double its main rival Veloz. At the dealer, Xpander rarely gets a discount because customer demand is always high.

Mitsubishi models have a small amount of less than 1% (745 cars) assembled at the factory in Binh Duong and are all MT manual versions. Thanks to Xpander, Mitsubishi’s sales from the average position in the last group rose to the top of the firms with the largest market share in Vietnam.

Toyota Corolla Cross

Corolla Cross is the product that started the drastic changes from Toyota when the Japanese company’s leading position in sales of Vietnamese cars was threatened by Korean brands such as Hyundai and Kia. In the context that the RAV4 has no plans to sell in Southeast Asia, Corolla Cross has become a pioneer in the hot growing segment, the small CUV.

Launching Vietnamese customers from the second half of 2020 by importing Thailand, Corolla Cross immediately created a fever when selling prices at agents in the form of “beer with peanuts” tens of million VND. In order to have priority for early delivery, car buyers have to spend tens of millions of VND more on accessories.

Toyota Corolla Cross sales continuously grew and led the segment from 2021 to present. In 2022, the sales of this model reached 21,473 vehicles. In Toyota’s product range, sales of Corolla Cross are only behind the Vios.

Corolla Cross possesses many strengths thanks to inheriting Toyota’s TNGA global chassis platform. Modern car design, not boring like many “brother” models in Vietnam. Toyota also removed the stereotype that Japanese cars were slow to update technology when bringing the TSS safety package to the Corolla Cross. Despite possessing the highest price in the segment, Toyota’s model still dominates and far exceeds the sales of late competitors such as Mazda CX-30, Nissan Kicks…

Toyota Veloz

Innova declined when it was at the end of its life cycle, where there appeared many new models that are more in line with consumer trends. But Toyota showed the agility to respond to demand, which is considered its strength when it introduces the Veloz and its lower-end twin, the Avanza, in 2022.

Toyota sold two MPV models: Avanza and Rush from 2018 as Mitsubishi Xpander but failed. Avanza has an old design, Rush is more modern, but the price is quite high, causing the duo not to achieve sales as expected, the segment market share almost falls entirely on Xpander. Rush stopped selling, and Avanza sold in moderation.

In March 2022, Toyota brought back the Avanza and Veloz. Whatever the customers need, such as youthful design, adequate equipment and competitive prices, these two models are available. Toyota Veloz alone sells more than 14,000 cars in 2022, while Avanza has nearly 3,600 cars and all are imported from Indonesia.

Sales of Avanza, especially Veloz are as expected of the Japanese company. Although it has not been able to approach the throne of Xpander, this is still a much more positive result than the previous period when Toyota sold Avanza (old) and Rush. To be more proactive about supply, Toyota will start assembling this MPV duo at the end of 2022 and sell them from 2023.

Hyundai Creta

The appearance of Hyundai Creta makes the sales throne of Kia Seltos in the B-sized CUV segment shaken. Entering Indonesia, Creta has just over 9 months of sales in 2022 but sales reached 12,096 vehicles, approaching Setos, 12,398 cars sold for the whole year. By the beginning of 2023, the Hyundai model distributed by Thanh Cong officially surpassed fellow competitor Kia assembled by Truong Hai.

After a few years of being familiar with Seltos, Hyundai Creta is with customers as a new spice in the segment thanks to its more novel design. Creta’s equipment is on par with Seltos while the safety technology is slightly better, the price is a bit cheaper. Customers gradually shifted to favoring imported Hyundai models.

In the near future, Hyundai Creta will be assembled by Thanh Cong at its factory in Ninh Binh. The sales contribution of Creta is currently only behind the B-size sedan, Accent.

Thus, of the four best-selling imported models in the market, only Corolla Cross has not been planned or has never been domestically assembled. Xpander used to install automatic transmission in the country; Creta is coming soon and Veloz is selling the assembled version.

In assembling a certain car model, in addition to the strategic orientation factor, companies need to take into account the large enough consumption to invest in the production line, shorten the product depreciation time, and increase the competitiveness in the market. Representatives of many car manufacturers in Vietnam said that the sales of a product of 10,000 vehicles/year or more can be considered for domestic assembly. All four models in this article registered minimum sales over 12,000 vehicles.

Source: vnexpress.net