Vietnamese people are going crazy over Indian cars.

Over the past two months, more than 9,000 complete cars of all types have been imported from India, a number unprecedented in any other market. Hyundai models, mostly the small Grand i10, are believed to be the cause of this "boom."

Amidst the rapid growth of the Vietnamese automotive market, which saw an 86% increase with nearly 30,000 vehicles imported in November, the market for completely built-up imported cars also experienced significant growth with interesting developments. According to the latest statistics from the Customs agency, in November, Vietnamese businesses imported 13,575 completely built-up cars of all types, worth $252 million, representing a 38% increase in volume and a 26% increase in value compared to the same period last year.

The Hyundai Creta is imported from India.

Overall, in the first 11 months, while the Vietnamese automobile market grew by 57% to over 215,000 vehicles, imported complete automobiles alone reached 111,143 vehicles of all types, with a value of 2.587 billion USD, an increase of 82% in volume and 92% in value compared to the same period in 2014.

Last month, for the first time, a completely imported car model (with publicly available sales figures) – the Ford Ranger – became the best-selling car in the Vietnamese automotive market with over 1,300 units sold. This American-branded pickup truck is heating up the year-end automotive market, along with the Kia Morning, which has achieved sales of over 1,000 units for two consecutive months, creating an interesting three-way competition with the Toyota Vios, which has dominated the market for over a year.

The Ford Ranger was the best-selling model according to VAMA last month, but it's unlikely to be the best-selling car in the Vietnamese automotive market because Thailand, the main importer of the Ranger, lags far behind India. Specifically, Thailand imported 3,193 complete vehicles (a 42% increase year-on-year) worth $60 million (a 62% increase), but India held the top spot in terms of import volume with 4,296 vehicles (an 83% increase), although the import value was only nearly $22 million (a 148% increase).

Ford Ranger was VAMA's best-selling car in November with over 1,300 units sold.

Although many Hyundai models, such as the Grand i10, i20 Active, and recently the Creta, are now imported from India, the Grand i10 (including both sedan and hatchback versions) is still considered to be the most imported model. Therefore, even though the import volume doesn't perfectly match the sales volume, it can still be concluded that the Grand i10 was the best-selling car in the Vietnamese automotive market in November.

Besides India and Thailand, which occupy the top positions, more than 2,400 complete cars were imported from South Korea last November, over 1,400 from China, and nearly 700 from Japan…

It can be said that over the past two months, India has been Vietnam's hottest car import market. Along with over 5,000 cars imported in October, this market has exported more than 9,200 cars to Vietnam in just two months, a record for the volume of imported cars to date. During the same period, 6,600 cars were imported from Thailand, nearly 4,600 from South Korea, and over 2,500 from China…

Rio - Kia's best-selling imported model in Vietnam.

The surge in car imports from India has significantly narrowed the gap between India and leading markets for the year-to-date total, even promising an interesting dethroning in December. Specifically, over the past 11 months, Thailand has been the largest importer with 23,516 vehicles (an 81% increase year-on-year), valued at $406 million (an 86% increase); followed by South Korea with 23,232 vehicles (a 57% increase) valued at $518 million (a 92% increase); and India with 21,840 vehicles (a 100% increase) valued at $113 million (a 57% increase).

China remains the undisputed market for car imports, with $869 million in the past 11 months, totaling 22,496 vehicles, a 93% increase compared to the same period last year. Japan is the next largest market with nearly 5,700 vehicles in the same period, worth $238 million; the US with nearly 3,000 vehicles, worth $117 million; and Germany with 2,200 vehicles valued at $80 million.

According to VnMedia