Don’t back down in the face of economic crisis
It can be said that 2023 is a tough year for car manufacturers in Vietnam. This year is a convergence of many unfavorable factors. From the economic crisis situation, unstable bank interest rates, declining key sectors such as securities, real estate, to a series of difficulties in vehicle inspection, which have greatly affected the purchasing power of consumers, thereby causing a sharp decline in the overall domestic automotive market.
The worrying decline of the Vietnamese automobile market began in April 2023 when the car sales figure of over 30,000 units in March dropped to over 22,400 units (a drastic 47% decrease compared to April 2022). In May 2023, the car sales of the overall market continued to plummet.
To revive the market, many car manufacturers in Vietnam have implemented incentive programs with discounts ranging from tens to hundreds of million Vietnamese dong. At the same time, the Government has also issued a 50% fee reduction for domestic production and assembly cars from July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023. However, that alone is still not enough to help the Vietnamese car market break through in terms of sales.
According to the sales report of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), the total sales of the overall market in 2023 reached 301,989 units, a decrease of 25% compared to 2022. Specifically, passenger cars decreased by 27%, commercial vehicles decreased by 16%, and specialized vehicles decreased by 56% compared to 2022. As of December 2023, the sales of domestically assembled vehicles reached 181,380 units, decreasing by 20%, while the sales of imported vehicles were 120,609 units, a sharp drop of 32% compared to 2022.
Toyota strives to overcome the “double” challenge to become the best-selling passenger car brand in the market.
Facing and solving scandal consequences, consolidating customer trust
However, in the midst of surrounding difficulties, Toyota still demonstrates the strength of a major brand by maintaining production and business activities while overcoming consecutive challenges and the year-end period of 2023.
By the end of 2023, Toyota Vietnam continued to maintain its leading position in the Vietnamese passenger car market with sales of 59,207 units (including Lexus), bringing the total accumulated sales to over 916,000 units after nearly 30 years of the Japanese brand’s presence in Vietnam.
This result is not surprising because Toyota has long been a familiar name for the leading position in the Vietnamese market in terms of sales. The product range of Toyota Vietnam spans across various segments and always receives positive reception from customers.
As evidence, the Vios and Corolla Cross models are regularly among the top 10 best-selling models on the market with accumulated sales in 2023 of 13,521 and 10,485 units, respectively. The Yaris Cross model, despite being newly launched since the end of September, also recorded an impressive sales figure of 3,065 units, averaging 1,022 units per month. In December alone, Toyota had 3 models in the top 10 best-selling cars, including Vios, Veloz Cross, and Yaris Cross, with Vios leading the market with more than 3,000 units sold. This is the result of a persistent and continuous improvement process, enhancing the quality, safety, and driving experience for Toyota Vietnam’s customers.
The sales figures that Toyota Vietnam has achieved are figures that many car manufacturers dream of, but any journey inevitably has some obstacles and challenges. At the end of December 2023, abnormalities in the testing procedures of the Daihatsu subsidiary became the focus of the world. After discovering abnormalities related to the test vehicles’ safety of Daihatsu, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) quickly halted the production of vehicles for Daihatsu in certain markets until receiving information from independent third-party testing and certification organizations.
With the belief of “Not evading, not lying, and not distorting the truth,” Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Vietnam (TMV) both proactively took immediate actions to ensure the legitimate rights of consumers.
In the Vietnamese market, after inspection, Toyota Motor Corporation identified only 1 related model, which is the Avanza Premio manual transmission version (MT). Immediately after receiving information from TMC, TMV proactively suspended the delivery of all vehicles produced by Daihatsu from December 21 according to the Andon system (Andon System: Stop – Call – Wait, immediately detect and report faults, helping Toyota’s production operations prevent mistakes transferring to the next stage) to reconfirm the specific information for the Vietnamese market.
Then, TMV reported this case to the management authorities in Vietnam. In fact, Avanza Premio MT vehicles produced and distributed in Vietnam have been inspected and certified by the Vietnam Register for meeting Vietnamese standards and have been issued with certificates of quality, technical safety, and environmental protection for motor vehicles. Therefore, Avanza Premio MT models in Vietnam meet the quality standards, and customers who own these vehicles can rest assured to use them as normal.
On January 26, Toyota Vietnam officially resumed delivering Avanza MT to dealers.
Through the Daihatsu incident, it can be seen the spirit of acknowledging mistakes and correcting them, proactively resolving from the Japanese brand. At the same time, the brand has also prepared standard procedures such as triggering the Andon system to protect the highest customer rights. That is the “trust” of the Japanese people.
2023 ended with many difficulties, challenges, and fluctuations for the Vietnamese automobile market. However, it is hoped that 2023 is only a “test” of resilience and reputation for Japanese car manufacturers before entering a more dynamic development period in the future.
Anh Quan (forum.autodaily.vn)
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