Five major vehicle manufacturers Ford Vietnam, Toyota Vietnam, Honda Vietnam, TC Motor and Yamaha have suspended production and assembling activities in Vietnam amid growing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Illustrative photo.

On March 31, Honda Vietnam announced the decision to suspend all production activities in Vietnam, starting from April 1 to 15, a move it said is necessary to protect health of all staffs and workers.

The Vietnamese government imposed a 15-day isolation period nationwide starting April 1 to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Resumption of production would depend on the actual pandemic situation and the government’s instruction,” said Honda Vietnam in a statement.

In a similar move, Yamaha Motor Vietnam said it also halted all business and production activities in the same period in response to the government’s announcement of 15-day nationwide social distancing.

According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), the Covid-19 pandemic has directly affected sales of the automobile industry in March and in the long term in case the pandemic lingers.

VAMA expected the Covid-19 pandemic to cause a 15% decline in the car sales volume in 2020 compared to its previous assessment.

In its latest assessment, Viet Dragon Securities Company said under the growing impacts of the pandemic, market demand is forecast to plunge, while oversupply and the burden of liquidating inventories would force car companies to lower selling prices and eventually affect their revenue in the first half of the year.

However, the industry is expected to recover in the second half of the year as the pandemic's impacts gradually fade out, stated the brokerage firm.

As of the end of February, sales of members under the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) decreased by 26% to 31,908 units. In particular, sales of passenger cars and commercial vehiclesdeclined 30% and 12% respectively, to 24,458 and 7,073 units.