Automakers compete in small-car segment

Automakers in the country are competing harshly with each other on the small-car market as this segment is contributing a large portion to their sales volumes given the rising trend in compact vehicle consumption in big cities.

Ford Vietnam, for instance, has sold nearly 1,300 units of the global small car line Fiesta debuting this May on the local market as of now. The compact model’s contribution raised the company's total number of vehicles sold in the January-September period to 6,060 units, or a rise of 39% year-on-year.

Laurent Charpentier, managing director of Ford Vietnam, said the Fiesta model has quickly become the firm's leading car line thanks to its fuel efficiency and smart technologies.

Meanwhile, Toyota Vietnam has launched into the market the Yaris car line imported from neighboring Thailand since March. Although still exploring the market, the company has sold 784 Yaris cars as of October-end.

Still, the firm’s compact car model Vios recorded the strongest consumption. Over 4,640 units of this line were sold in ten months.

However, the leading model on the small car market should be Kia Morning assembled and distributed by Truong Hai Auto Joint Stock Co, better known as Thaco. According to the statistics of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), some 5,530 Kia Morning cars were consumed in the first ten months of the year, which explained why Thaco in some previous months surpassed Toyota Vietnam to become the leading auto firm on the local market.

Obviously, the small car lines are being consumed stronger in the Vietnamese market. The compact fuel-efficient vehicles are suitable in crowded urban areas.

To catch up with this trend, other auto firms have invested to bring small car models to Vietnam.

Vina-Mazda as the official distributor of Mazda Japan after a short period importing cars to explore the market has opened the first assembly factory in Vietnam at the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone in Quang Nam Province.

Notably, Vina-Mazda chose the compact car line Mazda 2 as the first model to be assembled in the factory, planning to turn out 500 units from now to the year's end and 2,000 units in 2012.

Meanwhile, GM Vietnam, the new name of Vietnam Daewoo Motor Co. from September, saw a good consumption of the small car model Spark with nearly 2,880 units sold as of last month. After the rename, GM Vietnam also released the Mini Spark model.

Hyundai Thanh Cong, distributor of Hyundai Korea, also has joined the competition with Hyundai i10.