The Car Choice Awards gala in Hanoi on October 4 gave Chinese brands their best public showing in Vietnam so far. It also showed where they still lose.

The awards

The Jaecoo J5 took two prizes. Its hybrid version was named New Hybrid of the Year in the mainstream class with 3.74 points, ahead of the Geely EX5 EM-i and the Hyundai Tucson hybrid. It also won the outstanding-equipment award by 3.67 to 3.61 over the Lynk & Co 900, the narrowest published margin of the night. See Jaecoo.

The Geely EX2 won Women's Car of the Year with 4.44 points, and the BYD M6 was the most-voted model with 83,940 votes, more than 18,000 ahead of VinFast's Limo Green.

The electric-car prize went the other way. Scores combine an expert panel (70%) with public voting (30%). The Geely EX2 led the panel with 3.7 points against the VinFast VF 8's 3.6, but the VF 8 took the maximum public score of 5.0 to the EX2's 2.0, and won. The experts preferred the Chinese car; the public chose the Vietnamese one.

Sales and prices

Omoda & Jaecoo says it delivered nearly 1,000 J5s in September, a model priced only in mid-August. The J5 is one of the first two vehicles built at the Geleximco-Chery plant in Hung Yen province.

Two months after launch it is already discounted: October cuts reach VND 144 million, bringing the petrol version to VND 505 million and the hybrid Premium to VND 559 million. Lynk & Co is running offers on five models, with reductions of up to VND 100 million. See Lynk & Co.

The BYD M6, priced at 756 million dong, has had nearly 3,000 units distributed since launch, sold to both families and ride-service operators. See BYD.

Coming next

The Wuling Darion seven-seat MPV has reached a Vietnamese dealership ahead of a fourth-quarter launch. Sales staff have reportedly taken deposits since mid-August at an expected price above VND 700 million; no official price exists yet.

What it means

  • The J5's award scores and its discounts arrived in the same week. A buyer who paid launch price in August is now well above the going rate.
  • Expert panels and public votes pulled in different directions on Chinese EVs: the Geely EX2 won on expert scores and lost on the public vote.
  • A deposit on the Darion is a deposit against a price that has not been set. More at Chinese cars in Vietnam.