Vietnam's total automobile sales in the first 10 months of this year stood at 212,409 units, a year-on-year plunge of 18 percent, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association said on Thursday.

Specifically, sales of passenger cars declined 18 percent to 155,663 units compared to the same period last year, commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses down 17 percent to 53,711, and special-purpose vehicles down 32 percent to 3,035.

Sales of domestically assembled automobiles decreased 12 percent, while those of imported ones fell 26 percent, said the association.

In October alone, 33,254 automobiles were sold in the Vietnamese market, up 22 percent against September this year. Among them, sales of passenger cars rose 23 percent to 25,339 units, commercial vehicles up 17 percent to 7,528, and special-purpose vehicles up 71 percent to 387.

In the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam spent over 4.8 billion U.S. dollars on importing completely-built automobiles and components for assembly, posting a year-on-year decline of 21.5 percent, according to the country's Ministry of Industry and Trade.