Imported cars to Vietnam drop to record low

Imported cars into Vietnam continued to decrease for the second consecutive month. The number of imported cars in July was the lowest since the beginning of the year.

According to the General Statistics Office, the import and export turnover of automobiles in July is estimated at 430 million USD. Of which, the import turnover of completely built-up cars reached 170 million USD, equivalent to 6,000 units.

The number of imported cars to Vietnam has decreased for the second consecutive month. Previously, in June, the number of imported cars was 7,800, worth 171 million USD. In May, the number of imported cars was 9,000, worth about 187 million USD.

Suzuki Grand Vitara is the cheapest 2-wheel drive SUV in the Vietnamese market today.

Thus, in the last 2 months, the number of imported cars has decreased by an average of 1,500 cars/month. Since the beginning of the year, the number of imported cars has also fluctuated depending on the month. July had the lowest number of imported cars since the beginning of the year.

However, the import value decreased insignificantly. Accordingly, the import value in May was 187 million USD, in June was 171 million USD and in July was 170 million USD.

Accumulated from the beginning of the year to July, the total import turnover of completely built-up cars into Vietnam is estimated at 1.2 billion USD, equivalent to 57,000 cars. The number of imported cars decreased by 5.5%, the value decreased by 15.5% compared to the same period in 2016.

Import value of complete cars over a number of months.

The sharp decline in imported cars occurred in the context of the very slow sales in the first months of 2017. Most consumers still have the mentality of waiting until 2018 when import tax will be 0% according to the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). In addition, new regulations on standards of car importers are also considered one of the reasons leading to the sharp decline in demand for cars.

According to the General Department of Customs, over 50% of imported cars to Vietnam come from ASEAN countries. The two largest importers in ASEAN are Thailand and Indonesia.

Some major car import markets of Vietnam in the first 6 months of the year.

The reason is that the import tax rate for cars with less than 9 seats from ASEAN is only 30%, half of the import tax from other countries outside the bloc. Outside ASEAN, China, South Korea and India are the markets with the largest volume of imported cars into Vietnam.

According to VNN