Toyota Vios Regains the Top Spot, Leaving Honda City in the Dust

The Toyota Vios is the best-selling compact sedan of April. Photo by Minh Quân.

According to a report from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), Vietnam’s automobile market consumed a total of 24,350 vehicles of all types in April, an 11% decrease compared to the previous month, but a 9% increase year-on-year.

The sales of passenger cars in the Vietnamese market in April reached 17,258 units, including 2,836 compact sedans from the Toyota Vios, Hyundai Accent, Honda City, Mazda2, Mitsubishi Attrage, Kia Soluto, and Suzuki Ciaz.

Toyota Vios Regains the Top Spot

After experiencing a nearly 5.5-fold increase in sales in March, the sales volume of the Toyota Vios in Vietnam slightly decreased to 923 units in April. Nevertheless, this performance was sufficient for the Toyota Vios to officially reclaim the top position in the compact sedan segment, surpassing its direct competitors such as the Honda City and Hyundai Accent.

During the same period, the Hyundai Accent achieved sales of 848 units, while the Honda City witnessed a significant drop to 405 units sold in the previous month. The third best-selling compact sedan in the Vietnamese market in April was the Mazda2, with sales of 427 units.

The Mitsubishi Attrage was the only compact sedan in the segment to experience sales growth in April, with a sales volume of 208 units. The Suzuki Ciaz maintained its sales of one unit for the second consecutive month, while the Kia Soluto achieved sales of 24 units in the Vietnamese automobile market.

Despite leading in sales volume in the segment in April, the cumulative sales of the Toyota Vios since the beginning of the year still lag behind the Hyundai Accent. In the first four months, TC Motor delivered 3,096 Hyundai Accent units to Vietnamese customers, compared to 2,680 units for the Toyota Vios, while the Honda City achieved cumulative sales of 2,570 units year-to-date.

Car Manufacturers Offer Attractive Incentives

Similar to other segments in the market, car manufacturers in Vietnam have introduced a series of incentives in various forms, worth tens of millions of VND, for compact sedans. This strategy aims to stimulate consumer demand, increase sales for the manufacturers, and, to some extent, boost the overall Vietnamese automobile market.

Earlier, in March, Toyota announced new prices for the Toyota Vios, reducing the selling price by 21-47 million VND compared to the previous list price, bringing the car’s price range to 458-545 million VND. In addition to the price adjustment made by the manufacturer, dealers are also offering additional discounts of 10-15 million VND for the Toyota Vios, depending on the version and stock quantity.

Meanwhile, some Hyundai dealers are clearing out their inventory of 2023 Accent models. The highest incentive recorded is 67 million VND, applicable to the Special version, bringing the price down from 542 million VND to 475 million VND. Generally, the price of the 2023 Hyundai Accent 1.4AT Special with a VIN number is fluctuating between 480 and 490 million VND.

For the 2024 Accent models, dealers are offering incentives ranging from 20 to 40 million VND, depending on the version.

Dealers are offering incentives of tens of millions of VND to clear out their inventory of the 2023 Hyundai Accent Special version. Photo by TC Motor.

Honda continues to offer a 50% registration fee support for the Honda City in April, along with one year of free car insurance and other gifts from dealers. This is the fifth consecutive month that Honda has been providing incentives in the form of registration fee support for the Honda City and other models of the same brand.

Also in May, several Mazda dealers announced incentives equivalent to 50% of the registration fee for the Mazda2 1.5L AT and 1.5L Luxury sedan versions. After the incentive, the selling prices of these versions are 408 million and 484 million VND, respectively, a maximum reduction of 25 million VND from the original price range of 430-509 million VND.

The Mazda2, along with the Suzuki Ciaz and Mitsubishi Attrage, are currently the only three compact sedans that are imported as completely built-up (CBU) units, while the Toyota Vios, Hyundai Accent, Honda City, and Kia Soluto are assembled locally. When the incentive policy for registration fees for locally assembled vehicles is likely to be implemented in the second half of this year, imported models like the Mazda2, Ciaz, and Attrage may face some disadvantages.

In anticipation of this, the manufacturers of the Mitsubishi Attrage and Suzuki Ciaz are offering incentives equivalent to 50% of the registration fee for customers who choose to purchase these models in May, along with other gifts such as preferential loan packages, fuel vouchers, shark fin antennas, or reverse cameras.

Suzuki is also offering incentives equivalent to 50% of the registration fee for the Suzuki Ciaz. Photo by Vĩnh Phúc.

Despite once dominating the Vietnamese automobile market, compact sedans are gradually losing market share to vehicles in adjacent segments, such as affordable MPVs or urban SUVs. The primary reason for this shift is attributed to the space limitations of compact sedans, while their selling prices do not differ significantly from those of their higher-riding competitors.

The compact sedan segment also appears rather stagnant, with the sales race largely confined to the Toyota Vios, Hyundai Accent, and Honda City. This group has not seen the entry of any new competitors in a long time, nor has there been any departure of existing models.

Currently, the Suzuki Ciaz is the only compact sedan whose future in the Vietnamese market is uncertain, as the model has consistently reported relatively low sales figures over multiple periods.

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