HANOI, July 7 (Reuters) - Vietnam's car sales in the first half dropped 30 percent from a year earlier to 47,909 vehicles, as a weakening economy hit demand, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association said.

However June sales by the 16 car makers operating in the Southeast Asian country only fell 1 percent from a year earlier to 9,699 units after the government halved its value-added tax to 5 percent, the Association said in a report.

Dealers said demand could still slow significantly for the rest of the year as consumers shelve big-ticket items such as cars and houses.

Last year, car sales rose 37 percent to a record 110,186 units.

Vietnam's economy grew an estimated 3.9 percent in the first six months from a year earlier, slowing from annual growth of 6.5 percent in the same period last year, the government said last week [ID:nHAN518986].

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) held on to the top position, with its six-month sales down 13 percent to 10,907 vehicles. Sales by Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) fell nearly a third to 2,699 units.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Malaysia's Proton (PROT.KL: Quote, Profile, Research), Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Nissho Iwai, part of Sojitz Holdings Corp (2768.T: Quote, Profile, Research), are among the car makers with assembly plants in Vietnam.

Last month Nissan Vietnam Co Ltd, part-owned by Japan's Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research), said it would start production in Vietnam and market the first locally assembled vehicle by 2010. [ID:nHAN231093] (Reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)