Nov. 10 – According to an industry report made by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association, car sales in Vietnam for the month of October dropped by 37 percent to 5,679 units from the same figure last year due to rising taxes and registration fees.

For the first 10 months of the year, sales figures reported by 16 automakers operating in the country increased by 64 percent to 95,736 units from the same period last year.

Dealers complained that demand would wind down until the end of the year after the government tripled registration fees amounting to 15 percent of the car's purchase price.

The country's top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., reported sales of more than 30 percent from a year earlier to 20,351 vehicles. On the other hand, Ford Motor’s sales increased almost 40 percent to 5,613 units. Honda, Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Mitsubishi Co. and Proton, Suzuki Motor Corp. and Nissho Iwai, part of Sojitz Holdings Corp., are among the auto firms with assembly plants in Vietnam.