After two consecutive months of growth, domestic automobile sales in April fell sharply compared to the previous one.

In April only, except Honda, there were no general car brands with a positive growth compared to the previous month. The whole market consumed 30,799 vehicles, down more than 40% compared to March. Thus, after two consecutive months of purchasing power growth (although slowly), the domestic auto market is plunging again as it was at the beginning of 2023.

Comparing the period from February to April of 2022 with the same period of 2023, the gap is widening after one month. If this year’s February and the previous years were quite close, then in March the gap increased to more than 10,000 vehicles and by April it was increased by 21,000 vehicles.

The sales curve grows in opposite directions, making the accumulated numbers even more different. After four months of 2023, the whole market sold 117,616 vehicles, down 30% compared to the same period last year. This sale includes 92,801 vehicles of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), 19,328 units of Hyundai Thanh Cong and 3,798 units of VinFast. All general brands (which announced sales) had a decrease in sales compared to the same period in 2022, except Ford.

Many dealers said that stimulus programs with cash promotions, vehicle registration fee support, gifts of accessories … is being deployed “at full capacity” but purchasing power is still weak. “Discounting is the fastest way to increase good sales, but it is probably not enough for the current situation,” said a sales manager at a Toyota dealership in Ho Chi Minh City. Most brands now offer 100% registration fee discounts for some models.

Sales of brands with a large share in the market such as: Toyota, Hyundai, There, Mitsubishi… all plummeted. Ford, the only company to grow sales after the first four months of 2023, even more than doubled, at 128%. The reason for these good sales is that Ford’s early 2022 sales are quite low due to products at the end of their life cycle, the company and dealers reduced supply to prepare for new models.

The high selling level of the automobile market in 2022 is supported by the Government’s preferential policy of 50% registration fee for domestically assembled vehicles, applied from December 2021 to May 2022. In a similar period of 2023, the market does not have the same supportive policy. Besides, the difficulties of the economy affect people’s income, consuming loan interest rates are still high… According to experts, these things cause the demand for car ownership to decline, making it difficult for the domestic market to predict when it will grow steadily.

Source: vnexpress.net