Stimulating year-end consumption, car manufacturers compete to reduce prices

Slow recovery of purchasing power and the loss of position of the B-class sedan segment have caused manufacturers and distributors to continue to "increase their strength" in the price reduction race for models in this segment.

Many price reduction tricks to stimulate demand

Currently, most B-class sedan models in Vietnam have prices ranging from 380 - 600 million VND.

In particular, car models such as Honda City, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Vios, which have already received incentives from the 50% reduction policy of registration fees according to Decree 41/2023/ND-CP, are also supported by the distributor with the remaining 50%.

Specifically, this program is applied by Honda Vietnam to the City G and L versions with a value of about 56 - 60 million VND. Toyota Vietnam also applies similar incentives to the Toyota Vios G, Vios E MT, CVT versions. Thus, in September 2023, customers who buy one of the versions of the above car lines do not have to pay registration fees when they have received incentives from the Government and the manufacturer.

With Hyundai Accent, dealers are implementing a discount program of 25 - 30 million VND. Combined with the registration fee reduction policy according to Decree 41/2023/ND-CP, the total incentives that customers buying Accent enjoy are almost equivalent to Honda City and Toyota Vios.

Regarding imported B-class sedans, although they do not enjoy the 50% reduction in registration fees, with the incentive program from the distributor, customers buying Mitsubishi Attrage in September 2023 will not have to pay registration fees.

Mitsubishi Motor Vietnam applies a 100% registration fee support program for all Attrage versions.

Meanwhile, Nissan Almera does not have a reduced registration fee like its competitors, but the Japanese car company's distributor has reduced the price by up to 70 million VND for both the Almera CVT and the high-end Almera CVT versions. This helps Nissan Almera become the model with the highest price reduction in the B-class sedan segment today.

The remaining two models, Kia Soluto and Mazda2, distributed by THACO AUTO, both have their listed prices reduced as in previous months. Meanwhile, Suzuki Ciaz is the worst-selling model in the segment but only receives a 50% discount on registration fees from Suzuki Vietnam.

Not only B-class sedan models have reduced prices, previously many luxury car brands also reduced prices quite deeply.

Specifically, Honda CR-V is directly reduced by 150 million VND in cash. In addition, the car also has a 50% preferential registration fee. Thus, the price of Honda CR-V is reduced by at least 200 million VND.

Mercedes-Benz Vietnam also launched a promotion program for customers buying cars in August and September 2023.

Specifically, by the end of September 2023, customers who register to buy a car and complete the procedure of paying 100% of the contract value will receive a 4.55% discount on the listed price of the product, equivalent to about 50% of the VAT value. Most notably, the Mercedes-AMG G 63 off-road vehicle model receives the highest discount of up to 534.6 million VND.

Subaru Vietnam dealers are also applying a discount of up to VND367 million for the Outback model, pushing the selling price of the car from VND2.099 billion to VND1.732 billion. The batch of cars with strong discounts is the latest facelift version that was just launched last April, not the old version.

Meanwhile, Audi's authorized dealers continue to implement the program of discounting car models in the long-term incentive program from June and lasting until September.

Specifically, in addition to a cash discount of 300 million VND for the A4, A6, A8L, Q2, Q3, Q5, Q5 Sportback, Q7, A7 Sportback, Q8 models, the German car distributor also offers a two-year physical insurance package or converts it into cash from 35-141 million VND...

According to experts, the main reason for the recent decline in sales is the difficulties of the domestic economy.

To stimulate car purchases in the remaining months of 2023, car manufacturers from popular to luxury have launched many attractive incentive programs. Along with that are adjustments to equipment and prices to gain market share.

Vietnamese customers are indifferent, car sales have decreased sharply.

Although car manufacturers have tried to launch high-value promotional programs (depending on models and versions) to stimulate market demand, the car market has remained very gloomy recently.

According to information from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), in the first 7 months of 2023, total car sales in the whole market from VAMA member units reached 162,014 vehicles, down 30% compared to the same period last year. Of which, sales of passenger cars decreased by 34%, commercial vehicles decreased by 13% and specialized vehicles decreased by 63%.

Notably, total sales of B-class sedans in the past 7 months in Vietnam reached 25,896 vehicles, down 18,032 vehicles, equivalent to nearly 41% compared to the same period last year.

"Sales have dropped sharply, with passenger cars down 34%, commercial vehicles down 13% and specialized vehicles down 63% compared to the same period last year. Domestically assembled cars in July only reached 13,575 units, down 12% compared to the previous month, and imported cars also decreased 48% compared to the previous month."VAMI representative mentioned.

It is worth mentioning that the automobile market sales have decreased sharply recently, causing the automobile and mechanical support industries to also be heavily affected.

Meanwhile, according to businesses and car dealers, the market's purchasing power has decreased more rapidly than expected, causing inventory at showrooms and factories to reach alarming levels.

"In the short term, if purchasing power does not improve and the market does not grow again, to reduce inventory pressure, manufacturers will not be able to maintain a stable production pace and will be forced to reduce capacity and labor, which will directly impact the labor and employment situation, thereby affecting social security,"A car company representative said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen, Chairman of the Vietnam Transport Association, said that car consumption demand depends on many factors and has fluctuations. Therefore, if the registration tax is reduced, consumers will be the first beneficiaries.

"The support policy issued will help people access good prices, stimulating shopping in the context of the car consumption market tending to decline sharply,"Mr. Quyen said.