Hanoi (VNA) – Sales ofimported automobiles recorded a year-on-year leap of 234 percent to about 32,000 vehicles in the first quarter of thisyear, announced the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturer Association (VAMA)on April 10.

Meanwhile, the figures of domestically-assembledones fell 8 percent to over 46,250 units in the reviewed period.

Automobile sales of the country stood at 78,250 vehicles in Q1, asurge of 31 percent compared to the same period last year.

The increase was attributable to the rise of salesof passenger cars at 48 percent, followed by commercial vehicles at 1 percent,while sales of special-use vehicles dropped 32 percent.

In March alone, as many as 32,308 cars were sold, a month-on-monthrise of 160 percent and 54 percent against the same period last year.

Of the figure, there were nearly 22,530 passenger vehicles,representing a surge 151 percent compared to the previous month; along with8,920 commercial and 860 special-use ones, up 170 percent and 390 percent,respectively.

Sales of both domestically-assembled and imported vehicles enjoyedstrong increases in the month.

However, the sales did not reflect theconsumption power of the country’s entire automobile market, as the figure didnot include sales of other manufacturers that are not VAMA members.

For example, Hyundai Thanh Cong alone sold16,792 vehicles of all kinds in the quarter and 6,061 ones in March alone.

Toyota was the most successful in Q1 with 18,967vehicles sold, followed by Hyundai, Mazda with 9,497, Honda with 8,687, and Kiawith 7,489.-VNA