Vietnam auto sales surge 181 percent in first four months

Vietnam automobile sales shot up 181 percent in the first four months of the year, driven by a sharp rise in the commercial car segment, a group of manufacturers said on Thursday.
The 16 members of the Vietnamese Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) who produced automobiles in the period said they sold a total of 47,366 units between January and April.
The increase was mainly pushed by a 313 percent jump in commercial car sales year-on-year with 29,745 units sold, while passenger car sales went up 105 percent to 7,791 units, VAMA said in its report.
In April alone, auto sales increased 183 percent year-on-year, reaching 13,271 units, the report said.
Vinamotor topped the list in the number of units sold in the period with 11,230 cars, followed by Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ) and Truong Hai with 7,896 and 7,492 units sold respectively.
Mekong saw the highest percentage increase, with 830 units sold in the period, up 255 percent year-on-year, followed by Hino with a 196 percent increase and Vinaxuki with a 195 percent rise.
In the first four months, Vietnam also imported about 28,000 cars, an increase of 470 percent year-on-year, and worth a combined $483 million, the state-run General Statistic Office told Agence France-Presse.
Vietnam -- with around 86 million people and economic growth of 8.5 percent last year -- has increased import duties on new passenger cars by 13 percent to 83 percent.
The duty push is expected to reduce city traffic jams and curb Vietnam's record trade deficit, which widened to $11.1 billion in the first four months of 2008.