Auto sales in Vietnam continued its slide in September with a 36 percent year-on-year slump to about 7,700 units, according to official data recently released by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA).

However, sales in September inched up 9 percent over August, and the annual percentage decline in September had moderated slightly from that in August, said VAMA.

With September’s figures, car sales in the first 9 months of this year fell some 31.5 percent year on year to 55,928 units, said VAMA.

Based on the figures, VAMA has also raised the 2012 annual car sales forecast by nearly 7 percent to 94,000 units from 88,000 units projected in August.

Total sales of the market reached 7,669 units, including the 2,869 cars and 4,800 trucks, up 15 percent and p 20 percent from the previous month.

Locally assembled cars reached 6,501 units, up 9 percent from the previous month, while the number of imported vehicles was 1,168 units, up 9 percent over August.

The VAMA data covers the sales of SUVs, passenger cars and commercial vehicles by VAMA members.

Sales of passenger cars and SUVs plunged over 33 percent year on year to 4,100 units, while sales of commercial vehicle sales tumbled 28.5 percent, from 4,082 units to 2,919 units.

Toyota took the top sales position last month from Vietnamese carmaker Truong Hai, leading 18 manufacturers in the country.

January-September car sales fell 31.6 percent from 81,766 units a year earlier to 55,928 units, VAMA said.

Truong Hai, which assembles Korean KIA cars and various commercial vehicles, regained its market lead despite a 26.1 percent decline in sales to 17,300 units during the period.

Toyota was a close second with 16,255 units (-26.5 percent); followed by GM-Daewoo with 4,100 (-44.2 percent).

The association has raised its forecast for Vietnam's 2012 annual car sales by nearly 7 percent to 94,000 units, from 88,000 units projected last month, based on September data, the report said.

In August, the car sale of the whole market reached 7,056 units, down 5 percent from July 2012 and down 34 percent from last August.

In comparison with the same period last year, the car sale of the whole market in the first eight months of this year declined 38 percent.

The sale result in August 2012 led to a forecast that the market this year will end with about 88,000 units sold, down 4.6 percent against the forecast given in July 2012.

The total car sale of the whole market reached 7,056 units, including 2,500 four-seater cars and 4,556 trucks, down 8 percent and 3 percent on month respectively.

The volume of locally assembled cars reached 5,982 units, down 4 percent month on month and the import of completely built unit (CBU) cars reached 1,074 units, down 8 percent month on month.