Imported car prices unlikely to drop significantly
The news that Thailand has granted a certificate for Honda's CR-V model to be imported into Vietnam to meet the regulations of Decree 116 has attracted attention in the imported car market that has been scarce for the past few months.
The owner of a car dealership on Cong Hoa Street (Tan Binh, Ho Chi Minh City) calculated that if the Honda CR-V is imported early in March, it will be available by the end of April and with the import tax rate of 0%, the price of imported cars from Thailand for this model is estimated to decrease by about 15% compared to the price before Tet.
Before Tet, Honda CR-V cost around 1.15 - 1.25 billion VND/car, but stores only had price quotes, no cars for sale. Most buyers were "promoted" by dealership owners to retain customers by allowing customers to test drive the car freely in some cities such as Da Nang, Bien Hoa, etc.
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| Imported cars expected to increase sharply in the second quarter |
In addition to Honda, Ford, GM, Toyota... all have imported cars from Thailand. According to some car dealers, Ford said it is also working hard with the Thai government to soon have certificates for the two Ford Ranger and Ford Everest models to import into Vietnam. In addition to Thailand, Indonesia - a large car import market into Vietnam and Japan have not yet shown any signs of granting certificates for cars imported into Vietnam.
According to Mr. Dang Huu Hiep, Director of Cho xe Kieu My Co., Ltd. (Ben Luc, Long An), with the type quality certificate, other Honda car models such as Civic, Accord produced in Thailand are expected to be imported into Vietnam in the near future. At the same time, if other companies speed up the process of applying for type quality certificates from Thailand, car models such as Chevrolet Colorado, Ford Ranger, Toyota Yaris... will soon be available in Vietnam, at the latest in the second quarter of this year.
Regarding the reason why imported cars have to wait 1-2 months for them to be available on the market, according to Mr. Hiep, it is because each batch of goods must be inspected according to the regulations in Decree 116. During that time, importers still have to pay storage costs, vehicle transportation costs, inspection fees, etc. Therefore, the price of imported cars is not expected to decrease as much as expected, even if the companies have full certificates later.