Will car imports decrease?

According to calculations by the General Statistics Office (Ministry of Planning and Investment), it is highly likely that the import value of completely assembled automobiles will begin to decrease after a long period of maintaining very high levels.

It is very clear that imported cars have experienced a spectacular race over the past year, with continuous and strong growth.

Specifically, car imports in February 2015 were estimated at 5,000 units in quantity and $130 million in value, a decrease of half in quantity and $56 million in value compared to the previous month.

If this estimated figure is close to the actual figure after full statistics are available and published next month, the import value of completely assembled automobiles will begin to show signs of weakness. Although compared to the same period last year, the import value of completely assembled automobiles in February this year still achieved a fairly high growth rate, specifically an increase of 2,000 units in quantity and an increase of up to 79 million USD in value.

Looking back at the automotive market over the past year, it's clear that imported cars have experienced a spectacular race, with continuous and strong growth. Especially since September 2014, after gradually climbing to 7,000 units and $160 million, the import value of cars in the following months surged and peaked at 10,000 units in quantity and over $220 million in value in December 2014.

This acceleration led to a record high of over $1.5 billion in total value of completely assembled automobile imports into Vietnam last year.

However, this is only an estimate and could very well differ significantly from the actual figure. Furthermore, it's worth noting that the Lunar New Year holiday fell in February 2015, so the slowdown in the automotive market and the sharp decline in car imports are entirely understandable.

In fact, automotive businesses believe that the Vietnamese automotive market currently shows no clear signs of declining purchasing power. Therefore, with the trend of faster growth in imported cars compared to domestically assembled cars, the risk of a decrease in the import value of completely built automobiles seems unreasonable.

Returning to the figures, according to the General Statistics Office, the total cumulative import value of automobiles in the first two months of this year is estimated at 15,000 units and 316 million USD, an increase of 140.4% in volume and 169.4% in value compared to the same period last year.

According to VnEconomy