- Vietnam has one of the lowest rates of car ownership in the ASEAN region. With a significant economic boom in the early 2000s, the country experienced a strong growth in the automotive market, especially between 2006 and 2009. During this period, the Vietnamese car market tripled from 40 000 units to 120 000 units.

- The Vietnamese market began to decline in 2009, from 120 000 to 80 000 units in 2012. This decline in car sales was the result of a sanitation policy introduced by the Vietnamese state that began in 2011-2012.

- In 2013, the automobile market made up for half of its delay, from 80 000 to 100 000 units. Thanks to a balanced economic climate. The 2013 top five manufactures are the same as in 2012, Toyota remains the market leader with 36% market share. (Best selling models: Fortuner, Innova, Camry, Corolla, Vios), far ahead of Hyundai-Kia (18% of market), Ford (9%), GM (5%) and Honda (5%).

- In the first quarter of 2014, the Vietnamese market has confirmed this positive trend with an increase in vehicle sales (PC + LCV) of 36% to 41 300 units (26 800 PC and 14 500 LCV) compared to the same period last year. Of total sales, 74% of vehicles sold in Vietnam were assembled locally (CKD) while 26% was imported (CBU).

- These figures bode well for a market that could reach 125 000 units throughout 2014. In the first quarter of 2014, regarding manufacturers, Toyota remains the leader with more than 3 000 units sold (+8% ) while Ford (939 units) increased by 37%.

- Nissan produces C-segment sedans in all regions of the world except Europe. Indeed, in this continent, the manufacturer decided to replace in 2007 its segment C Almera sedan by a segment C crossover (Qashqai) that is experiencing a great success since its launch (200 000 sales per year in Europe +35 000 sales in Russia).

- In 2014 however, Nissan is back on C-segment sedan models, one of the largest segments in Europe, launching two new sedans: The Pulsar and Tiida.

- The production of the second generation Tiida will start in August in the Russian AvtoVAZ plant based in Izhevsk. The former IzhAvto plant that used to produce Hyundai-Kia vehicles before going bankrupt. The hatchback version of the Tiida model will also be made in this plant, starting from January 2015. This model (in both variants) will be marketed exclusively in Russia.

- The production of the Pulsar, a new compact hatchback car will be launched in September in the Spanish plant of Barcelona, it will be marketed both in Europe and in Russia. The manufacturer hopes to sell 80 000 units per year. It must be noted that the Almera name was not picked for this model since it already designates a D segment model sold in Russia.

- The arrival of these two vehicles will allow the Nissan brand to expand its model range, which was perilously concentrated on two models, the Juke and Qasqhai(68% of European and Russian production in 2013 ). These two successful models will unfortunately  have more and more competition from crossovers from B and C segments.

- The South African market (sales of PC on South African soil) set its best record in 2006, with over 470 000 units sold (against 400 000 in 2005 and 300 000 in 2004).

- Severely affected by the financial crisis of 2008-2009 (the market lost 45% of its volume between 2006 and 2009), as of 2010 the South African market bounced back very well to finally exceed 350 000 units in 2012 and 450 000 units in 2013. Therefor, this market was the largest on the African continent, since Algeria with who the country  was competing for the first place in 2012, has seen its market decline in 2013 and thereby didn't reach South African figures.

- By carmakers, the VW group (largest producer in South Africa) remains the market leader in 2013 with 23% market penetration, ahead of Toyota (15%) and Hyundai-Kia (15%) whose launch on this market is quite recent. These three companies occupy together 53% of the South African market in 2013.

- American groups GM and Ford, once market leaders, have lost much of their influence, with respectively 8% and 6% market share in 2013 (against 9% and 7% in 2012). The seven best-selling models in 2013 were the VW Polo (segment B - 61 993 units), Toyota Etios (segment B - 24 367), Ford Figo (segment B - 15 254) Hyundai i20 (segment B - 14 420 ) which are ahead of the Mercedes C Class (segment D - 12 565), Toyota Corolla (segment C - 12 414) and BMW 3 Series (segment D - 12 116), all assembled locally.