HANOI, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's total auto sales hit a record high of surpassing 300,000 units for the first time in 2016, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) said on Friday.
A newly-released VAMA report showed that last year, a total of 304,427 automobiles were sold in the Vietnamese market, up 24 percent year-on-year.
The figure much surpassed the earlier record set in 2015 with 244,914 auto units, reported local VNEconomy online newspaper.
In December alone, the country's auto sales reached 33,300 units, up 17 percent over November and 13 percent year-on-year.
In 2016, as many as 228,964 domestically-assembled cars were delivered to customers, up 32 percent year-on-year, and 75,463 imported completely built-up (CBU) autos were sold, an increase of 5 percent year-on-year.
Among VAMA members, local Truong Hai Auto Joint Stock Company (Thaco) took the lead with its sales totaling 112,847 units, accounting for 41.5 percent of the market. Toyota Vietnam came second with 57,036 units sold, accounting for 21 percent and Ford Vietnam third with 29,011 autos and 10.7 percent, respectively.
Local experts said the results beat expectations of automakers. Earlier, VAMA forecast an annual growth rate of around 10-15 percent in sales for the year of 2016.
