Vietnam June car sales edge up 4 pct yr/yr

Automakers sold 10,052 vehicles in Vietnam in June, a rise of 4 percent from the same month last year, led by Japan's Toyota Motor Corp, an industry association said on Wednesday.

Toyota surpassed domestic firm Truong Hai Auto Corporation, the top seller in May, to lead the tally with 2,905 units, up 35 percent from June 2009, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association said in its monthly report.

For the first half of 2010, the car industry in Vietnam sold 50,278 cars, up 5 percent from a year before, the association said.

The six-month sales data from 16 manufacturers operating in Vietnam included sport utility and multi-purpose vehicles and crossovers as well as passenger cars.

Car sales have picked up slowly along with the economy, which expanded an estimated 6.4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, accelerating from growth of 5.83 percent in the first three months.

Car imports, which have been limited by the government as part of measures to reduce the country's trade deficit, rose 27.6 percent in the first six months of 2010 from a year earlier to $1.29 billion, government statistics show.