Green cars and cars equipped with many technologies promise to flourish in Vietnam in 2023

The Vietnamese automobile market has many remarkable changes in 2022. Notably, the green car trend, car models equipped with many technologies are flourishing and have high spread.

The reason is that users are becoming more demanding in their experiences. They want a car to be more than just a means of shelter from the rain and sun.

When looking to buy a new car model, Vietnamese people still focus on the design, but at the same time, customers also pay more attention to comfort and safety equipment to choose the product that best suits their needs.

Popular cars have more and more technology

Previously, popular car models distributed on the market only had basic and sufficient equipment. However, in the past 2 years and especially in 2022, many new products have been introduced to Vietnamese customers, accompanied by a series of equipment that is only available on higher-class cars.

Take the Hyundai Creta for example. This model was first launched in Vietnam in March 2022 to replace its senior Kona to compete with the Kia Seltos in the B-size urban SUV segment.

Hyundai Creta almost outsold Kia Seltos in 2022 (Photo: TC Motor).

The appearance of Creta has quickly attracted the attention of consumers because this model not only scores points in design and comfort but also stands out from other competitors thanks to the SmartSense technology package that only appears on C or D-size cars.

The SmartSense safety system on Creta includes attractive features such as: blind spot collision avoidance, forward collision avoidance, lane keeping assist, and cross traffic warning when reversing.

Hyundai Creta interior (Photo: TC Motor).

Not letting Hyundai Creta be known as the product with the most technology in the B-SUV segment, the new generation of Honda HR-V launched in June 2022 also possesses impressive equipment.

That's the Honda Sensing package, which includes features like collision mitigation braking, front vehicle departure warning, adaptive cruise control, adaptive automatic headlights, lane departure mitigation system, and lane keeping assist.

With such upgrades, although Honda HR-V cannot compete in sales with Creta or Seltos, the consumption of this model still nearly doubled in 2021 with 2,256 cars sold in 2022.

The new generation of Honda HR-V is highly appreciated for its design and equipment but is still difficult to reach the majority of customers due to its high price (Photo: Honda Vinh Phuc).

In the low-cost MPV segment, Toyota Veloz Cross, first launched in Vietnam in March 2022, also attracted the attention of many customers. Although it has a slightly higher price than its direct competitor, Mitsubishi Xpander, Toyota Veloz Cross has the advantage of segment-leading technology at launch.

Specifically, the highest version of this model is equipped with the Toyota Safety Sense safety system including modern features such as: pre-collision warning, lane departure warning, automatic high beams, throttle control and front vehicle departure warning.

In some months of 2022, Toyota Veloz Cross recorded higher sales than Xpander, although it could not completely surpass it, it was still in the top best-selling cars of the year (Photo: Toyota Vietnam).

By October 2022, TC Motor will also "enter the battle" in the small MPV segment with a completely new product: Stargazer. Not only does it have a slightly more attractive price than its competitors, the "newbie" is also equipped with the SmartSense technology package, breaking the "monopoly" in equipment of Veloz Cross.

The highest version of Hyundai Stargazer with SmartSense safety package still has a cheaper price than Xpander Cross and Veloz Cross (Photo: Lam-chan).

In addition to the notable names above, Toyota Corolla Altis is also upgraded to a new generation this year with the highlight being the Toyota Safety Sense safety package.

In October 2022, Ford Territory was first introduced to Vietnamese customers, competing with rivals in the C-SUV segment with Ford Co-Pilot 360 driving assistance technology including features: automatic parking assist, blind spot warning, cross-traffic warning, adaptive cruise control, collision warning with automatic braking, collision warning when opening the door and 360-degree camera.

One month after its official launch, Ford Territory unexpectedly appeared in the top best-selling cars of November 2022 (Photo: Ford Vietnam).

A series of green cars will be launched in 2022

Green cars in Vietnam include electric cars and hybrid cars. Of which, hybrid cars began to reach a large number of users since 2020, through the Toyota Corolla Cross HEV - the first popular car model in our country with a hybrid version. However, it was not until 2022 that this trend really exploded.

Within the framework of the Consumer Electronics Show CES 2022 taking place in the US in early 2022, VinFast announced its pure electric strategy along with a complete product range spanning segments from A to E, including: VF 5 Plus, VF 6, VF 7, VF 8 and VF 9.

The VF 8 and VF 9 duo received deposits first, of which VF 8 has started to be delivered by the Vietnamese car company since September 2022 (Photo: VinFast).

VinFast is not the only car company to introduce electric cars in 2022. In July 2022, Audi Vietnam unveiled the e-tron GT, competing directly with the Porsche Taycan.

Next, in October 2022, the Mercedes-Benz EQS - the model dubbed the "S-Class of the electric vehicle segment" was launched by the German automaker within the framework of the Vietnam Motor Show (VMS) 2022.

Mercedes-Benz EQS is one of the highlights at VMS 2022 (Photo: Mercedes-Benz Vietnam).

In terms of hybrid cars, 2022 is an equally exciting year when many new products are introduced to Vietnamese customers. For example, the new generation of Toyota Corolla Altis launched in our country in March 2022 also has a hybrid version like its older brother Camry or Corolla Cross.

At the end of September 2022, the new Suzuki Ertiga was also introduced with a hybrid version. In particular, the Nissan Kicks, which was launched in November, also received attention from users.

Suzuki Ertiga Hybrid costs 678 million VND, almost equal to the highest versions of Veloz Cross or Xpander (Photo: Suzuki Vietnam).

Nissan Kicks is positioned in the B-size SUV segment. Although it has a relatively high selling price, this model has a highlight of quite interesting e-Power technology. Specifically, Nissan Kicks is not like pure hybrid models on the market.

The vehicle still has a transmission mechanism including an electric motor and a gasoline engine, but the electric motor is the main part responsible for helping the vehicle operate, the gasoline engine is an auxiliary element, recharging the electric motor.

Therefore, the Nissan Kicks has the ability to operate no differently from electric cars, just can still fill up with gas without having to plug in to charge. Meanwhile, in other common hybrid cars, pure electric driving mode can only be used at low speeds.

The 2022 Nissan Kicks has a suggested retail price of up to VND 858 million, approaching C-SUV models (Photo: Nissan Vietnam).

Finally, in December 2022, THACO unexpectedly launched the Kia Sorento HEV (hybrid) and Sorento PHEV (Plug-in hybrid) duo. In which, Sorento HEV is no different from other hybrid models on the market while Sorento PHEV is the first commercial Plug-in hybrid model to be sold in our country.

The Kia Sorento PHEV has the highest selling price of up to 1.759 billion VND, almost equal to a Mercedes-Benz GLC (Photo: Lam-chan).

Promises to continue to explode in 2023

It can be seen that today's car manufacturers are actively competing in technology, focusing on equipment on products sold on the market. In 2023, this trend will continue to increase when many new car models are about to be brought to Vietnam.

Names include Honda CR-V 2023, commercial version of Mitsubishi XFC Concept, Toyota Innova 2023,...

Toyota Innova 2023 launched in the international market also has a hybrid version (Photo: Toyota).

The electric vehicle segment will have many more notable milestones, for example, VinFast VF 9 is expected to start delivery this January, VF 5 Plus will be manufactured from April 2023, VF 6 and VF 7 will open for orders next March.