HANOI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A total of 201,840 units of automobiles were sold in the Vietnamese market in the first half of this year, up 34 percent year-on-year, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association said Thursday.
The sales of domestically assembled automobiles surged 37 percent to 116,066 units, while those of imported ones rose 30 percent year-on-year to 85,774, according to the association's monthly sales report.
However, in June alone, only 25,159 vehicles were sold, down 42 percent from the previous month.
Businesses blamed the decrease on the global semiconductor crisis and the lack of chips, as well as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical situation in some regions, Vietnam News Agency reported.
Thanh Cong Group, a local motor vehicle manufacturer, said the shortage of components has affected the production of all Hyundai products in Vietnam. Therefore, in terms of many models, they can only meet a small part of the actual needs of customers, the news agency reported.
In 2021, 304,149 units of automobiles were sold in Vietnam, up 3 percent from 2020, said the association.
The country spent nearly 8.7 billion U.S. dollars importing completely-built automobiles and components for assembly last year, posting a year-on-year surge of 36.2 percent, according to Vietnam's General Statistics Office. ■