Vietnam August 2018: Toyota Fortuner back, Vinfast gets ready

The Toyota Fortuner is back in the Vietnamese sales charts.

* See the Top 20 manufacturers and Top 50 models by clicking on the title *

New vehicle sales in Vietnam drop 7.2% year-on-year in August to 20.504 registrations, pulling the YTD tally down 5.3% to 167.629 units. Toyota (+15%) goes agains the grain with a double-digit gain, overtaking archenemy Thaco-Kia to take the lead of the Vietnamese brands ranking for the first time this year. Honda (+3%) edges past Mazda (+42%) to climb on the podium while Ford (-42%) freefalls. Peugeot (+1894%), Nissan (+206%), Mitsubishi (+56%) and Chevrolet (+18%) shine but Isuzu (-33%) and Mercedes (-26%) disappoint. Model-wise, the Toyota Vios (+2%) remains comfortably in pole position at 8.3% share ahead of the Toyota Innova (+50%) while the Toyota Fortuner (-27%) is back on sale after a 5 month-hiatus. The Toyota Yaris (#14) and Mitsubishi Triton (#19) also make their comeback. The Kia Cerato (+121%), Honda City (+54%), Mazda3 (+41%) and Mazda CX-5 (+27%) follow and all sport brilliant double or triple-digit gains. The Honda CR-V (-46%) implodes at #9 whereas it was on the podium a year ago.

VinFast SUV

But the main news for the Vietnamese auto industry this month is the arrival of the country’s very first local brand, VinFast, set to be the newest carmaker in the world and scheduled to unveil two new models at the Paris Auto Show on October 1, a premium sedan and an SUV, ahead of a Vietnamese market launch in September 2019. VinFast is the manufacturing branch of Vingroup which was created by Pham Nhat Vuong, a Vietnam native who built it into an empire worth an estimated $10 billion, operating a network of shopping malls, apartment complexes, spas, resorts, hospitals and schools across the country. VinFast’s first production center has an ambitious initial annual production target of 250.000 vehicles – wihch is as much as the national market – with the ability to lift it to 500.000 vehicles per year through exports in Southeast Asia. The Pininfarina design of the first models was voted in by the 65.000 Vietnamese nationals. It will be fascinating to see VinFast burst into the Vietnamese car scene next year.

Previous month: Vietnam July 2018: Toyota Innova and Kia Cerato shine

One year ago: Vietnam September 2017: Honda CR-V up to #2

Full August 2018 Top 20 manufacturers and Top 50 models below.