The urban SUV space – the tide has turned

Honda HR-V Leads Sales in Vietnam’s B-Segment SUV Market

Honda HR-V is currently the best-selling B-segment SUV in Vietnam. Photo: Boi Ha.

Following the launch of the Toyota Yaris Cross in the last quarter of last year, the urban SUV segment in Vietnam is now a competitive market with 7 models, including Honda HR-V, Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Toyota Yaris Cross, Toyota Corolla Cross, and the CX-3 and CX-30 duo from Mazda.

Last year, Hyundai Creta made an impressive comeback, surpassing the Toyota Corolla Cross to become the best-selling B-segment SUV in the Vietnamese car market. However, sales figures for the first two months of the year suggest that the tide may have turned in the Korean-Japanese battle in this segment.

Honda HR-V’s Surprise Move

In the first month of 2024, the Honda HR-V attracted attention with sales of 801 units, making it the best-selling car of the Honda brand in the Vietnamese market and securing a place among the top 5 best-selling vehicles overall.

The impressive sales performance also helped the Honda HR-V become the best-selling B-segment SUV in the first month of the year. During the same period, the Kia Seltos and Hyundai Creta sold 524 and 413 units, respectively, while the newcomer Toyota Yaris Cross sold 334 units.

While the Honda HR-V’s lead was initially seen as a rare moment in the spotlight, the Thai-imported urban SUV from Honda continued to surprise by maintaining its position as the segment leader, despite a nearly 65% drop in sales.

Specifically, the Honda HR-V sold 282 units in February. Despite the significant drop from the 801 units sold in the previous month, this performance was still enough to place the HR-V ahead of the Hyundai Creta (238 units), Kia Seltos (202 units), Toyota Yaris Cross (119 units), and Toyota Corolla Cross (106 units) in the Vietnamese market.

The Honda HR-V also widened its lead in cumulative sales over the Kia Seltos, the model closest behind in terms of sales year-to-date, to 357 units. The Japanese automaker’s B-segment SUV recorded sales of 1,083 units after 2 months, while the South Korean rival sold 726 units during the same period.

Has the Tide Truly Turned?

As mentioned above, Hyundai Creta, after an impressive comeback in the last quarter of last year, became the best-selling B-segment SUV when the 12 months of 2023 came to a close.

Hyundai Creta’s achievement added another point to the Korean team in the Korean-Japanese sales race last year, alongside Hyundai Accent’s victory in the B-segment sedan segment and Kia Sonet’s triumph over Toyota Raize in the small urban SUV segment.

However, at present, both Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos are showing signs of weakness in the face of the surprising resurgence of the Honda HR-V. The HR-V’s sales performance has even surpassed that of its Japanese compatriots, such as the Toyota Yaris Cross, Toyota Corolla Cross, and the CX-3/CX-30 duo from Mazda.

Honda HR-V’s current lead is impressive but also met with skepticism. Photo: Honda Indonesia.

From a market perspective, it is likely that the Honda HR-V’s strong sales in the early part of the year are due to the promotional policies implemented by the Japanese automaker. Specifically, Honda has been offering a 50% discount on registration fees for the HR-V and other imported models like the Civic and Accord throughout most of the first quarter.

However, Honda HR-V buyers are not the only ones benefiting from the policies being offered by automakers in the Vietnamese car market.

Since the beginning of the year, Toyota has announced a price adjustment for the Toyota Yaris Cross, reducing it to a range of 650-765 million VND, corresponding to a maximum discount of 80 million VND. Hyundai Creta has also been given a price adjustment by the South Korean automaker since the beginning of March, with a maximum reduction of 41 million VND, bringing its starting price below 600 million VND.

Significantly, Hyundai’s adjustment came just days after Mitsubishi announced a price reduction for its “newcomer” Xforce, applicable to customers who place a deposit and purchase a vehicle in March. Although it has yet to reach customers, the Mitsubishi SUV’s price has been adjusted to 599 million VND for the GLX version, 640 million VND for the Exceed version, and 680 million VND for the Premium version.

As for the Toyota Corolla Cross, the B-segment SUV that has led the segment in sales at various points in the past, a new version is expected to be released this year. The price of the 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross is expected to remain the same, but the vehicle will feature significant changes to its exterior and notable upgrades to its interior.

Mitsubishi Xforce has received a price adjustment even before reaching Vietnamese customers. Photo: Vinh Phuc.

Due to the aforementioned factors, many believe that the Honda HR-V’s current lead in the urban SUV segment is far from secure. However, unexpected developments are always an exciting part of the market, and the Japanese-Korean sales battle in the B-segment SUV segment is no exception.

Take the Mazda CX-30, for example. Mazda’s B+-segment SUV was the only model to increase sales in February, rising to 78 units from just 27 units in the first month of the year. In fact, the Mazda CX-30’s nearly 190% increase in sales was the highest recorded in the Vietnamese car market last month.

What’s interesting is that before March began, the Mazda CX-3 and Mazda CX-30 duo were among the few models in the B-segment SUV segment with higher price tags than the previous year.

Mazda had previously adjusted the retail prices of all versions of the duo by 10 million VND since the beginning of the year, bringing the price tags of the Mazda CX-3 to 534-654 million VND, and the 2.0 Premium version of the Mazda CX-30 to 739 million VND.

The 2.0 Luxury version

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