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 top in the world when it comes to car prices. Singapore has the highest, 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 tax on components currently ranging from 15 to 18%, plus import tax within ASEAN 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 pressure to accelerate sales to gain market share and achieve targets, has now reduced its price from 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 is priced up to 40,000 USD.

The Honda CR-V, at the time of its "shocking" price reduction in early September, was also down to 730 - 750 million VND (32,000 - 33,000 USD), equivalent to the new generation CR-V being 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 priced at 45,000 USD.

Some models have narrowed the gap. Toyota Vios dealers are currently discounting about 70 million VND, the 1.5G version costs about 552 million (24,000 USD), in Thailand the price is about 22,000 USD, while in Indonesia it is more than 23,000 USD. Mazda3 sedan in Vietnam is currently priced at 650 million VND (28,000 USD) for the 1.5 version and 760 million VND (33,000 USD) for the 2.0 version. Meanwhile, in Thailand the price is about 25,000 USD to 29,000 USD 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 2018 - 2022, which, if applied, will bring great benefits to consumers.

According to VNN