More and more small cars with price tags of 9,000 U.S. dollars upward will be imported to or launched in Vietnam in the coming years, local media reported on Monday.

Daihatsu, whose key auto factory is in Indonesia, plans to bring its small model Ayla priced at over 8,800 U.S. dollars to Vietnam in 2018, online newspaper VietNamNet reported, noting that Ayla is similar to Wigo introduced by Toyota Vietnam recently.

Two Malaysian carmakers, Proton and Perodua, which account for 48 percent of Malaysia's auto market share, are likely to penetrate into the Vietnamese market after 2018.

Proton currently has eight models with prices ranging from over 8,800 U.S. dollars to 31,000 U.S. dollars, and Perodua has four models with price tags of 5,800-16,000 U.S. dollars.

Meanwhile, foreign automakers in Vietnam will launch similar small cars targeting medium income earners, the newspaper reported.

Vietnam's automobile sales in the first eight months of this year were 177,037 units, down 6 percent against the same period last year, said the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Automobile sales are likely to increase next year when import taxes on vehicles will be slashed to zero percent in line with the ASEAN Free Trade Area, local experts said.

Vietnam spent nearly 3.5 billion U.S. dollars importing completely-built automobiles and components for assembly from January to August, posting a year-on-year decline of 10.6 percent, according to the country's Ministry of Industry and Trade.