Many car models in Vietnam are cheaper than in Thailand

Some car models such as Mazda CX-5 or Mercedes A-class in Vietnam have lower selling prices than similar versions in Thailand.

In Southeast Asia, car prices in Vietnam are among the highest, only lower than Singapore because the island nation needs to limit personal vehicles due to its small size. However, the steady wave of price reductions over the past two years is bringing about different results, with some car models in Vietnam being cheaper than in Thailand.

(Unit: USD, exchange rate on August 20, 2017. (*) In Vietnam, it is the GLC250 gasoline version)

The above comparison table shows that the price of the CX-5 2.0 in Vietnam is about 5,000 USD cheaper than in the Thai market. This is the first time this phenomenon has occurred. Some high-performance AMG models of Mercedes have a big difference between Vietnam and Thailand, the gap is about 40,000 USD. The GLC250d version in Thailand is also about 5,000 USD more expensive than the GLC250 version in Vietnam.

The fact that Mazda CX-5 is cheaper in Vietnam than in Thailand is the result of a price reduction campaign that Truong Hai has launched over the past two years. Compared to 2015, the CX-5 is about 300 million cheaper. Truong Hai has the ambition to export cars back to Southeast Asian countries, so reducing production costs to reduce car prices is a prerequisite for Mazda cars produced in Chu Lai to be competitive in foreign markets.

Mazda CX-5 in Vietnam is cheaper than in Thailand.

Meanwhile, the prices of some Mercedes AMG models in Vietnam are much cheaper than in Thailand because of different tax methods. Currently, the special consumption tax in Vietnam is based on engine capacity, while Thailand has abandoned this calculation method and switched to calculating based on CO2 emissions since early 2016, the more the car emits, the higher the tax. Therefore, sports cars that consume a lot of fuel and emit a lot like Mercedes-AMG and Porche will cost much more than popular models.

Apart from the Mazda CX-5 and high-performance models, in general, car prices in the Vietnamese market are still slightly higher than in Thailand, but the gap is not much, only a few thousand USD. For example, the Mazda3 2.0 in Thailand is 33,684 USD, in Vietnam it is 35,156 USD, the Toyota Vios in Thailand is 23,750 USD, in Vietnam it is about 27,300 USD.

An industry expert said that car prices in Vietnam will drop to the same level as the region or even lower if car prices can be reduced further in 2018. However, the ability to access cars is not the same, because car prices are the same but Vietnamese people's income is in the lowest group in the region.

According to the Worldbank, in 2016, the average income per capita of Vietnam was 2,185 USD, while that of Thailand was 5,900 USD, nearly 3 times higher. The pressure on car prices for Thai people is much lighter than for Vietnamese people.

According to Vnexpress