Hyundai Santa Fe wins Car of the Year award

The mid-size car of the South Korean brand also won the best car title in the SUV-Crossover for segments D and E with a point of 81.58 over 100, organizers announced at the award event Friday.

The sedan Lux A2.0 claimed the title for the best car in the D-E sedan segment, while the hatchback VinFast Fadil was the Car of the Year in the A segment, which refers to small city cars.

In the small luxury SUV segment, BMW Series 3 and Porsche Macan were the winners.

The Mazda3 surpassed several competitors to be the Car of the Year in the sedan C segment, which refers to compact cars for small family.

Car Awards 2021 is the first major auto ranking event hosted by VnExpress to determine the best cars in Vietnam based on the votes of its readers and car experts.

Panelists speak at the Car Awards 2021 event in Hanoi, January 14, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Tuan Cao

The winning car model is selected based on a total point given by 40 percent of readers (who have to go through a survey to show their knowledge of cars) and 60 percent from experts in auto technicalities, sales and the media.

The five categories for determination are exterior, interior, convenience, function and costs.

From November 4 to December 31, Car Awards 2021 received 40,000 readers' votes in 15 segments.

Panelists spoke at the event that Vietnams’ auto industry still lags behind other countries in Asia, especially in manufacturing of auto parts.

Only 20-30 can be considered auto suppliers, said Truong Thi Chi Binh, deputy chairwoman of the Vietnam Association for Supporting Industries.

It is very difficult to enter the auto supply chain due to high requirements, she said, adding that the small profit margin also discourages local entrepreneurs to join the industry.

Among 46 suppliers of Toyota Vietnam, six are completely Vietnamese companies, and the number is set to increase to eight in the next several years, said Nguyen Trung Hieu, a member of the strategic planning department for the company.

Hoang Chi Trung, CEO of VinFast Trading Vietnam, said the automaker has a localization rate for electric cars of 60 percent and the figure is set to increase in the upcoming years.

VinFast last month began the construction of a VND4 trillion ($173.9 million) battery plant in the central province of Ha Tinh, which is set to hike the localization rate of its vehicles.