According to the latest sales data published by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), Vietnam’s equivalent of the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), the best-selling car in September 2023 is the Mazda CX-5.

The CX-5 maintained its top spot from August when it topped the sales chart for the first time. With 2,023 units (coincidence?) sold in September, the CX-5 is a favourite among Vietnamese buyers, selling nearly 3x more than the Honda CR-V and grabbing nearly 50% market share in the C-SUV segment.

Vietnam is not exactly a hotbed for Mazda though the CX-5 is the only Mazda model to consistently be in the top ten every month. However, thanks to Vietnamese customs and taboos, the SUV snatched the crown that is usually held by the Mitsubishi Xpander.

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August falls on the seventh month of the lunar year which is also known in Vietnam as the ‘ghost month’. During this month, sales of vehicles and other expensive items tend to fall as the Vietnamese generally believe that it is bad luck to buy such items.

As car showrooms around the country remained mostly deserted for the month, some distributors like Thaco Auto which sells Mazda and Kia in the country would offer huge discounts on models in order to entice buyers.

Some would rather break taboo just to score a huge deal on their dream rides but with a caveat of registering them in September once those restless spirits had their month of fun.

As such, the Mazda CX-5 held on to the top spot for two months in a row when car sales often plummeted in the country. The facelift was launched in the socialist republic back in July and is locally assembled (CKD) there.

Also read: New 2023 Mazda CX-5 facelift launched in Vietnam, priced from equivalent of RM 143.5k

Meanwhile, the Mitsubishi Xpander takes second place with 1,918 units sold in September. Cumulatively, the Xpander is Vietnam’s best-selling car in 2023 so far with more than 14,000 units sold.

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In terms of cumulative sales, the Hyundai Accent and Ford Ranger are the country’s second- and third-best-selling cars with 11,540 units and 11,235 units sold between January and September 2023 respectively.

In the first 9 months of the year, 10,836 units of the Mazda CX-5 were sold in Vietnam which puts it as the country’s fourth best-selling car of 2023 so far. If its sales trajectory continues, we might see the CX-5 unexpectedly become a major threat for the Xpander’s sales crown in the country.