Nearly 29,800 units of automobile were sold in the Vietnamese market in October, up 120 percent from September but down 10.4 percent year-on-year, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association said Tuesday.

During the month, the COVID-19 pandemic was put under control in many localities and people's demand usually increases at the end of the year, leading to better sales of automobile in October, local experts said.

In the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam's total automobile sales stood at 218,734 units, posting a year-on-year rise of 3 percent, according to the manufacturers association.

Specifically, sales of passenger cars declined 4 percent year-on-year to 149,761 units. Those of commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses went up 20 percent to 64,412, and those of special-purpose vehicles surged 50 percent to 4,561.

In the 10-month period, sales of domestically assembled automobiles went down 9 percent, while those of imported ones grew 24 percent year-on-year, said the association.

Between January and October, Vietnam spent over 6.9 billion U.S. dollars on importing completely-built automobiles and components for assembly, posting a year-on-year surge of 44 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.