Vietnamese customers continue to love Korean cars

By Thanh Nhan February 15, 2022 | 07:11 pm PT

A Kia Carnival car is displayed at a dealership in HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Pham Trung

The market share of Korean auto brands Hyundai and its subsidiary Kia increased from 18 percent in 2017 to over 30 percent last year.

Hyundai continued to lead the market with sales of 70,518 units, though down 13.3 percent from the previous year.

Japan’s Toyota followed with 67,339 units, down 4.7 percent, and Kia was third with 45,532 units, up 16.2 percent.

For a third consecutive year the two Korean brands were among the top three, and they had a combined 30.2 percent share, almost the same as in 2020.

With sales of 116,110 units, Vietnam was far and away the most important market for Korean automakers in Southeast Asia.

To put numbers in perspective, their sales in Vietnam was four times higher than the combined sales in five other markets in the region: Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

Competitive pricing compared to Japanese brands and a wide of options have helped Korean become popular in Vietnam.

Hyundai and Kia cars are assembled by Thaco and TC Motors respectively in the northern province of Ninh Binh and central province of Quang Nam.