Vietnam has become a new auto manufacturing hub for international brands, and domestic car production has exploded, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). Vietnam's automobile production has increased sharply over the first months of 2025 on a y-o-y basis when many global players chose Vietnam as a location for new car manufacturing facilities.
Vietnam's automobile industry is strong and gaining momentum early in 2025. According to data from the GSO, there were 36,700 vehicles produced in March alone. For the first quarter of 2025, total production was about 106,400 vehicles - an increase of 81.5% over the same period in 2024, almost double on a y-o-y basis. Prior to this, domestic automobile production had dropped slightly in February 2025 due to the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday season, which negatively impacted both supply and demand.
According to sales data from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association, at the end of February, 40,499 sold vehicles were sold in Vietnam in total. This breakdown includes 20,187 domestically assembled vehicles, up 23% on a y-o-y basis, and 20,312 imported vehicles, up 41%.VinFast, the leading domestic electric vehicle manufacturer, sold almost 23,000 EVs domestically during the first 2 months of 2025.
The automaker is one of the few remaining car manufacturers to have an entire assembly line at a location in Vietnam. In recent decades, many of the major auto brands, including Toyota, Hyundai, Ford, Kia, Mazda, Wuling, and even luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, have moved production to Vietnam. Czech automaker Skoda, has recently launched its factory in Quang Ninh Province using the Skoda Kushaq as the first model produced in the factory.
Two Chinese brands by Chery Group, Omoda and Jaecoo, are also about to start manufacturing in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Geely and Lynk & Co, together with Vietnamese conglomerate Tasco, were getting ready to break ground on a new plant. Chery described Vietnam and Malaysia as strategic positions for its global manufacturing network, and chose Vietnam as the regional centre for production in South-East Asia.In October 2024, Hyundai Thanh Cong exported the fourth batch of Hyundai Palisade sports utility vehicles to Thailand, which cumulatively now total 110 since they have started exporting.
While Hyundai was starting to export vehicles, local manufacturers, including VinFast and Thaco, had already made export deals to countries in South-East Asia and were exporting to markets across the Pacific, including the United States and Canada.