Abnormal: Cars sold out, lost another hundred million but still no car to celebrate Tet

New cars are sold out

Mr. Ngo Ngoc Minh in My Dinh, Hanoi shared that near Tet, he went to dealers to buy a Mazda CX5 2.5 L, but he went everywhere but still could not sign a contract. Dealers said that they only sign contracts with customers who accept delivery after Tet, but before Tet, they cannot. Not only CX5 but other domestically assembled Mazda models are also sold out.

Since mid-January 2018, Truong Hai Auto Company has sent a dispatch to dealers, announcing the suspension of signing contracts with customers buying Mazda CX5 cars, delivered before Tet. The company has sent a notice to all dealers about the suspension of transactions for this car line due to the lack of stock for delivery before Tet. "The car market this year has fluctuated unexpectedly, causing a shortage of supply near Tet. There are so many customers asking to buy but there are no cars to sell," said a sales staff at Mazda Pham Van Dong dealer (Hanoi).

Many customers who have paid deposits and signed car purchase contracts have not seen the car yet, and even had their deposits returned.

The same is true for Hyundai models assembled by Hyundai Thanh Cong. The Santa Fe model is "out of stock" due to limited supply from the factory, while other models such as Elantra and Tucson have been announced by dealers to delay delivery to customers. A representative of Hyundai Thanh Cong said: "The delay in delivery is due to the prolonged strike in Korea, causing a shortage of components."

In addition to the three models mentioned above, the small car Grand i10 is also out of stock. This small car only has the base version, mainly sold to taxi business customers, the remaining versions have stopped trading since mid-January 2018.

For more than half a month, Honda Vietnam dealers have hung up signs to stop accepting orders for the domestically assembled City model due to insufficient parts. A series of other domestically assembled models such as Nissan X-Trial, Nissan Sunny, Mitsubishi Outlander, Chevrolet Captiva,... are also in a similar situation.

A media representative of Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam said that the domestically assembled Outlander model, launched on January 23, had its first delivery to customers in early February and there will be no more cars to deliver, because the demand for Outlander cars in the market exceeded the factory's plan.

Currently, the factory's capacity can only assemble 200 cars/month, but the number of customers needing cars before Tet is high, unable to meet the demand. The expected time for the next batch of cars to be manufactured will be around March or April 2018.

Many domestically produced and assembled car models are "sold out".

For Ford Vietnam, the newly launched EcoSport 2018 model is only available for display at dealerships. The car has no official price yet, and sales staff have not been trained on this new model, so it is difficult to say when customers will be able to buy it. A representative of Ford Vietnam said that customers who buy the EcoSport 2018 will definitely have to wait until after Tet to receive the car.

Meanwhile, the old EcoSport model has been out of stock for more than a month now. Other models such as Focus, Ranger,... are also not much left, some dealers only have 1-2 cars left and only have colors that customers rarely choose such as gray or black.

For Toyota Vietnam, Altis and Vios models are still available, but the last delivery to customers will take place on February 13, which is close to Tet. Some dealers still have Altis and Vios models, but they are all low-end versions that few people are interested in.

Misery because of the car

Many customers who have made deposits and signed contracts to buy cars have not seen the cars yet, and even had their deposits returned. A customer in Tu Ky, Hai Duong, said that in December 2017, her family signed a contract to buy a Nissan Sunny XL for 468 million VND at a dealership in Hanoi. When placing the order, the dealership promised to have the car in just 2-3 weeks, but it has been more than a month and still has not arrived. When asked, the dealership said that there were too many orders, so the factory could not assemble in time and kept postponing the deadline.

Peugeot buyers also reported delays in delivery. Some had ordered their cars more than a month ago, with the contract stating that the cars would be delivered on January 20, but the delivery was delayed to late January or early February. Many feared they would not receive their cars before Tet.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Quang in Ha Dong, Hanoi, said that he signed a contract and deposited 20,000,000 VND in December 2017 to buy a Mazda CX5 2.5L version, but in mid-January 2018, the dealer announced that he would return the money because it was out of stock.

In the market, the prices of many popular car models have also increased by 10-50 million VND. For models that are sold at the published price, customers are forced to buy additional accessories, from 30-40 million VND.

Contract canceled, agreed to pay more but still no car, making customers upset.

Many car dealers are heartbroken when customer demand increases, but there are not enough cars to meet the demand. All last year was full of big discounts and inventory clearance, but now when demand is high, there are no cars to sell.

Meanwhile, many customers whose contracts were canceled were upset. Some did not know what to do, so they turned to put pressure on the sales staff and agents.

Some car salesmen lamented that they were exhausted. Before, no one was buying their cars, sales had not reached their targets for many months, and now demand has increased and there is a shortage of cars.

"We didn't know, customers came to sign a contract to deposit money to buy a car, so we just accepted. Then suddenly we saw a notice from the company, asking to stop the transaction. We calculated that there were many customers ordering but not enough cars to deliver, so we had to cancel the contracts signed later, so everything was noisy. Some customers sympathized, but there were also customers who called and cursed. People were upset because they didn't have a car to go out for Tet" - a Hyundai car salesman in Cau Giay district, Hanoi said.

The supply of new cars has never been as scarce as this year. Sales staff are struggling, while customers have no cars for Tet. On some forums, consumers are calling out to each other to demand their rights, forcing dealers to compensate for not fulfilling their contracts. They even posted clips to badmouth the dealers.

Normally, before Tet holiday, people's demand for car purchases increases by 20-25% compared to other times.

The demand for cars this year is higher, according to businesses, because about 20% of customers in need did not buy a car in 2017, waiting until early 2018 to buy a cheap car. Meanwhile, imported cars cannot come in due to Decree 116, so everyone is looking to buy domestically produced and assembled cars, causing the supply to not be able to meet the demand. Customers are willing to pay more money, but still do not have a car, so they are even more frustrated.

It is expected that imported cars will not be able to enter the country until mid-2018. From now until then, the domestic car market will continue to fluctuate abnormally.