HANOI, July 11 – Low interest rates and a brighter economic outlook in Vietnam sent vehicle sales soaring in the first half of the year.
This has allayed concerns of a market slowdown and set the industry up for a strong second half, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.
Sales in the first six months of 2014 rose 27 percent over the same period last year to 54,986 units, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) said in a report on Thursday.
Of the figure, sales of cars were up 36 percent and trucks up 24 percent.
VAMA’s chairman Jesus Arias said that with this momentum, full year industry forecast for 2014 was adjusted up to 130,000 units, a 18 percent growth from 2013.
Nguyen Van Dung, general director of prominent auto dealer Northern Automobile Corporation, said incoming indicators were consistent with a rebound in the economy.
“We’ve seen good improvement in manufacturing activity. Consumer sentiment has been good and incomes are gaining ground,” he said.
Vietnamese manufacturer Truong Hai Auto Corp based in central province of Quang Nam sold 17,851 vehicles in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 40 percent.
Toyota ranked second with 16,653 units sold, up 12 percent followed by Ford with 5,264 units, an increase of 54 percent.
The country imported 25,000 completely built-up cars worth US$500 million from January to June, an increase of 44.4 percent in volume and 53.9 percent in value year-on-year.
About 25 percent of vehicles imported were luxury sedans and sports utility vehicles.
Vietnam’s economy has been stable for the first half of 2014 with a gross domestic product growth rate of 5.18 percent and inflation at 1.38 percent against December last year – the lowest rise over the past 13 years.
The World Bank forecast Vietnam’s economic growth will reach around 5.5
percent this year.
-BERNAMA
