Vietnamese people are bored with small cars, high-chassis cars are on the rise
From a fairly vibrant segment with many choices in the Vietnamese market, the A-class small car segment is increasingly losing heat, with few choices... car sales also decreased sharply in the last month of 2022 and early 2023, instead there is a strong rise of high-chassis vehicles.
Overwhelming SUV sales
According to statistics from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association, in February 2023, high-chassis vehicles in the SUV/CUV/MPV segments dominated the top 10 best-selling vehicles of the month, while small-sized cars were absent, with only one name on the list, Hyundai Grandi10, but sadly ranked 7th.
High-chassis vehicles with good sales in 2023 were Mitsubishi Xpander with 1,443 vehicles sold, double the sales compared to the previous month, helping Mitsubishi Xpander rank 2nd in the rankings, and lead the MPV segment.
Next is the Toyota Corolla Cross, in February, the high-chassis car in the popular CUV segment sold 1,085 cars, up 25% compared to the previous month. This sales figure made Toyota's best-selling car model rise 1 place in the top best-selling cars compared to the previous month.
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Toyota Corolla Cross sold 1,085 cars in February 2023. Photo: Toyota |
Hyundai Creta - a high-chassis vehicle in the B-class SUV segment also sold 1,027 vehicles, ranking 5th in the top 10 best-selling cars in Vietnam in February 2023, an increase of nearly 500 vehicles compared to the previous month.
Hyundai Creta is being distributed by Hyundai Thanh Cong as an import from Indonesia. Creta has 3 versions, all using a 1.5L engine. The selling price ranges from 620-730 million VND.
The high-chassis model in the C-class SUV/crossover segment, the Mazda CX-5, also made it into the top 10 best-selling cars in February 2023 and ranked 6th, with sales of 1,017 vehicles sold in February 2023, an increase of more than 600 vehicles compared to the previous month. Cumulative sales in the first 2 months of 2023, this model sold 1,433 vehicles. The Mazda CX-5 currently has 7 domestically assembled versions with prices ranging from 839 million to 1.059 billion VND.
Toyota Veloz Cross - a high-chassis vehicle in the MPV segment also had quite good sales when reaching 911 vehicles, an increase of 343 vehicles compared to the previous month. Accumulated in the first 2 months of 2023, this model sold 1,479 vehicles.
In the ranking of the top 10 best-selling car models in February 2023, only Hyundai Grandi10 - belonging to the A-class small car segment made it to the top, but only stopped at 7th place. Last February, this A-class car model sold 949 cars, an increase of nearly 300 cars compared to the previous month.
Currently, Hyundai Grand i10 is sold in Vietnam with 6 versions, including hatchback and sedan models, with prices ranging from 360-455 million VND.
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Only Hyundai Grandi10 - in the A-class small car segment, made it into the top 10 best-selling cars in February. Photo: TC Motor |
High-chassis cars are getting cheaper and cheaper
According to some auto experts, in the past, class A cars with compact design, basic equipment, engines with capacity of only 1.2 - 1.4 liters and cheap prices, commonly from over 300 million VND to under 500 million VND were trusted by consumers.
However, this factor is no longer an advantage to help small A-class cars maintain their appeal to consumers in the car market.
The appearance of high-chassis models in the small-sized segment such as Toyota Raize, Hyundai Creta, Toyota Veloz... is forming a new trend, creating attraction in the market.
These cars, in addition to having beautiful designs and many safety features, are not too expensive for consumers to own. There are even many high-chassis cars, but the price is only equivalent to a B-class sedan, priced from 550 - 700 million VND.
Besides, with the terrain and roads of Vietnam, urban Crossover/SUV also operates more flexibly and powerfully than small cars.
Meanwhile, in the A-segment, 2022 also witnessed a number of models withdrawing from the market, namely Honda Brio. Honda Brio was forced to stop distribution in the Vietnamese market because the engine did not meet Euro 5 emission standards as required by the Government.
The second model in the A-size hatchback segment in Vietnam to be discontinued is also a model from the Japanese brand, Toyota Wigo.
The reason Wigo left the Vietnamese auto market was that its engine did not meet Euro 5 emission standards. Furthermore, Wigo sales also gradually declined when new competitors appeared such as Honda Brio and VinFast Fadil.
