Vietnamese tycoons playing supercars through the ages

Over the past 10 years, Vietnamese tycoons have imported hundreds of expensive supercars of all types. The most expensive version costs nearly 4 million USD.

Supercars are a luxury hobby of the rich. Cars equipped with high-power engines and expensive materials began to appear in the early 20th century. However, after World War II, the term "supercar" began to be used. This concept is used to describe very expensive, fast, mid-engine cars.

Early period

Supercars arrived in Vietnam quite late. In August 2006, the first supercar to arrive in Vietnam was the Aston Martin Vanquish. The presence of Vanquish at that time surprised many players because the price of the car in the UK was up to 230,000 USD. This car had a white license plate and paid full tax, so its value was up to 700,000 USD. Vanquish arrived in Vietnam quite quietly, no one knew who the real owner of this car was.

Aston Martin Vanquish, the first supercar in Vietnam. Photo: Otofun.

After Vanquish, the supercar movement in Vietnam started to flourish in 2007, when Cuong Do La publicly owned the first Lamborghini Gallardo in Vietnam.

On May 7, 2007, the yellow Gallardo was transited from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and stored in the hotel basement, because Quoc Cuong's villa on Tran Quoc Thao Street had a basement that was too deep, not suitable for a supercar.

Cuong's Gallardo is a used car, so the tax rate is quite low, only about 1.1 billion VND. After Cuong Do La's Gallardo, a series of other tycoons also competed to import expensive supercars and super luxury cars to Vietnam.

Cuong Do La's first Lamborghini Gallardo in Vietnam.

2007 was a memorable year for car enthusiasts in Vietnam. This was the time when the stock market was booming, real estate was booming, and many people became rich overnight. The rapid increase in the size of their wallets made many people look for ways to spend, and supercars were one of the first luxury items these people thought of.

In addition to the rapid economic development, low tax rates are also the reason why supercars flock to the S-shaped land. If importing a used car, the buyer only has to pay an absolute tax based on the cylinder capacity, which is usually quite low compared to the value of the supercar. The special consumption tax is only 50%.

At that time, besides Cuong Do La, the most famous young car enthusiast in Saigon was Chi Vy (nicknamed Cu Way). Born into a wealthy family with a tradition of doing plastic business, Chi Vy easily bought himself trendy cars like Ferrari F430 and Lamborghini Gallardo SE.

In addition to the young masters associated with fast supercars, the Vietnamese tycoons at that time favored Rolls-Royce, Maybach and Bentley. However, the most impressive person in the car enthusiast community at that time was the female tycoon Duong Thi Bach Diep, the first person to own a bespoke Rolls-Royce in Vietnam.

Female tycoon Duong Thi Bach Diep with the first genuine Rolls-Royce.

Ms. Diep's blue Rolls-Royce Phantom was imported to Vietnam in January 2008. The air freight alone cost $10,000. The total value of the car in Vietnam is about $1.3 million, (about VND26 billion in 2008), including $496,360 in factory price, import tax and registration fee of $882,092.

The Rolls-Royce of tycoon Bach Diep held the record for the most expensive car in Vietnam for a long time, before young master Pham Tran Nhat Minh (Minh Nhua) splashed out money to buy two supercars, a Lamborghini Mucielago LP670 SV in 2010 and a Bugatti Veyron in 2012.

Before 2010, not many people knew about Minh Nhua, but now, very few people do not know this young master. From the transactions of spending money to buy million dollar supercars as easily as going to the market, this young master's name gradually surpassed Cuong Do La.

Supercars of young master Minh Nhua. Photo: TNTBros.

Minh Nhua is the second person to own a Lamborghini Aventardor, estimated to be worth over 1 million USD, the only person in Vietnam to own a Lamborghini Mucielago LP670 SV worth 1.3 million USD and is also the owner of a Bugatti Veyron worth 1.3 million USD before tax. The total value of this young master's fleet of cars is up to hundreds of billions of VND.

In mid-2016, car enthusiasts spread rumors that Minh Nhua would buy a Pagani Huayra worth up to 78 billion VND in Vietnam. However, up to this point, the purchase has not been made public and there is no further information about this car.

Car playing style of Vietnamese tycoons

After 2013, the economy began to recover, which was when supercars began to return to Vietnam. During this period, new records began to appear in the car world in Vietnam. Vietnamese tycoons seemed to know how to spend more and were more meticulous when choosing cars. Typically, there were some authorized supercar dealers such as Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Hanoi, Bentley and Lamborghini.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Sacred Fire on Hanoi streets. Photo: ICTNews.

The second Rolls-Royce Phantom ordered in Vietnam, named Eastern Sun, worth 43 billion VND, was sold to "plow tycoon" Le Thanh Than, owner of the Muong Thanh hotel and low-cost apartment chain.

At the end of 2015, the Rolls-Royce Lua Thieng with a selling price of up to 50 billion VND was bought by a tycoon in Hanoi, and most recently, the Roll-Royce Phantom "Peace and Glory" with a value of up to 83 billion VND was also ordered by a Vietnamese tycoon.

Among the famous supercar players in Vietnam, there is a tycoon in the coffee industry that even the top players in the region have to respect. This tycoon has a special hobby, buying supercars and painting them all white. Currently, this tycoon's collection includes dozens of supercars of all kinds, the most of which are Ferraris (about 6 cars).

An offline supercar meeting of Saigon's tycoons. Photo:Minh Anh

Supercars in times of crisis

The Vietnamese supercar movement is considered a barometer of the country's economy. During times of economic prosperity, countless supercars arrive. However, there are also periods when people no longer hear about supercars.

In 2008, the global financial crisis began to affect Vietnam. From around 2009 to 2013, the real estate bubble burst, causing real estate companies to suffer. The once-famous young master Quoc Cuong also had to temporarily leave his expensive supercar hobby because his business results continued to decline.

Many tycoons have hastily sold their supercars to save money to pay off debts. A typical example is seafood tycoon Dieu Hien, who had to sell her Rolls-Royce Phantom with a four-digit license plate. At the end of 2015, the Rolls-Royce, once a symbol of the tycoon's power, was put up for sale at a used car market along Highway 13 (HCMC).

The Rolls-Royce Phantom luxury car of female tycoon Dieu Hien is located next to a used car shop.

The period from late 2015 to early 2016 is considered the golden age of the supercar movement in Vietnam. The concept of "buying a car to avoid taxes" is widely used. Starting from July 1, the special consumption tax applied to large-capacity cars increased sharply, from 65% to 90% for cars from 3.0 to under 4.0. 110% for cars from 4.0 to under 5.0. Cars with a capacity from 5.0 to under 6.0 will be subject to a tax rate of 130% and finally, supercars with a capacity of over 6.0 will be subject to a tax rate of 150%.

Tariff barriers cannot stop the supercar hobby of Vietnamese tycoons, but they can also cause this movement to decline.

Before July 1, thousands of expensive supercars and luxury cars were imported to Vietnam, including 7 Aventardos, most notably the Lamborghini Aventardo LP750 SV worth over 500,000 USD in the US and the DMC-tuned Aventardon.

In addition, brands that have never appeared in Vietnam such as McLaren were also imported with nearly 10 cars, Ferrari 488 GTB and Lamborghini Huracan also imported around 10 cars each.

However, compared to countries in the region such as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, even Laos and Cambodia, the number of supercars in Vietnam is still quite small.

With the current tax calculation, the price of supercars in Vietnam is the most expensive in the world, even surpassing Singapore, a country that uses taxes to limit cars. Many people predict that supercars imported to Vietnam in the near future will be as rare as "autumn leaves".

According to Zing