Vietnam car sales jump 48% in January

Reuters (Hanoi) - Car sales in Vietnam in January rose for the first time in seven months, jumping 48 percent from a year ago to 10,424 units, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) said on Wednesday.

The number of cars sold in January dropped 17 percent from December 2010, but the month represents the first annual rise since last July, data from the association showed.

Last year car sales in Vietnam fell 6 percent from 2009 to 112,224 vehicles, VAMA said.

Toyota , the largest car maker in Vietnam, sold 3,057 units in January, a rise of 29.3 percent from the same month last year, the report said.