According to the General Statistics Office, automobile and spare part imports had strongly increased in the first seven months of this year, reaching US$3.4 billion, an increase of 88 percent over the same period last year.
Noticeably, the number of automobiles imported into Vietnam rose to 65,000, worth more than $1.72 billion, up 107.7 percent in volume and 154.4 percent in value compared to the same period last year. Of which, more than 22,000 cars are less-than-9-seater vehicles with import turnover of $261 million, up 61 percent in volume and 57 percent in value over the same period last year. Vietnam mainly imports cars from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and India.
Automobile consumption has also improved robustly. According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association, sales of automobiles by the end of July this year climbed by 59 percent compared to the same period last year with passenger buses surging 45 percent, commercial vehicles rallying 76 percent, and specialized vehicles jumping 128 percent.
Sales of domestically-assembled automobiles increased 56 percent while that of imported ones shot up 67 percent.
It is forecast that automobile consumption will hit 200,000 vehicles for the whole year as automobile consumption usually improves by year end.
