Cars in Vietnam are priced the same as in Thailand.

Thanks to consecutive price cuts over the past several months, certain car models in Vietnam are no longer priced higher than equivalent cars in Thailand.

Despite being a region with an economy that is only at the “developing” level, Southeast Asia still has some countries that are among the most expensive in the world when it comes to car prices. Singapore is the most expensive, followed by Vietnam, while Thailand and Indonesia are significantly lower.

In addition to the taxes and fees imposed by the government on cars, the low localization rate also makes car prices in Vietnam higher than in neighboring countries. With import taxes on components currently ranging from 15 to 18%, plus import taxes within the ASEAN region of 30% (as of the end of 2017), whether the car is assembled domestically or imported from Thailand or Indonesia, it will usually not be as cheap as in neighboring countries.

However, in recent times, many car models have been actively adjusted in price by distributors. Typically, the Mazda CX-5, due to the pressure to accelerate sales to gain market share and achieve targets, has now dropped from the threshold of 1 billion VND to just over 790 million VND (34,000 USD). For comparison, the price of the CX-5 in Thailand is currently around 36,000 USD, while the new generation CX-5 in Indonesia costs up to 40,000 USD.

The Honda CR-V, at the time of its "shocking" price reduction in early September, has also dropped to 730 - 750 million VND (32,000 - 33,000 USD), equivalent to the new generation CR-V currently sold in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Honda CR-V 2.4 AT is listed at 988 million VND (43,000 USD), not including the dealer discount to about 780 million (34,000 USD), much cheaper than the CR-V 2.4 version in Thailand at 45,000 USD.

Some models have narrowed the gap. Toyota Vios dealers are currently offering a discount of about VND70 million, the 1.5G version costs about VND552 million (US$24,000), in Thailand the price is about USD22,000, while in Indonesia it is more than USD23,000. Mazda3 sedan in Vietnam is currently priced at VND650 million (US$28,000) for the 1.5 version and VND760 million (US$33,000) for the 2.0 version. Meanwhile, in Thailand the price is from USD25,000 to USD29,000 for the Mazda3 2.0 version.

The prospect of continued price reductions for cars in Vietnam is quite bright. By 2018, import tax on cars from ASEAN countries will be 0%. In addition, the Ministry of Finance has proposed two options to reduce import tax on auto parts in the 5 years from 2018 to 2022, which if applied will bring great benefits to consumers.

According to VNN