'Shocking' Vietnam ranks 5th in Southeast Asia in car consumption

Among the eight countries in the ASEAN Automotive Association, Vietnam ranked fifth in terms of car consumption in the first three quarters of 2017, with sales falling 4.2% year-on-year.

According to data from the ASEAN Automotive Federation (AAF), in the first three quarters of 2017, the total automobile consumption of the eight AAF member countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia, Cambodia and Brunei, reached 2.43 million vehicles. Compared to the same period last year, the purchasing power of the entire market increased by 5.6%, equivalent to 128,243 vehicles.

Indonesia remained the largest car-consuming country in the region with sales of 803,757 vehicles, up 2.7% compared to last year. Thailand ranked second with 620,715 vehicles sold in the first three quarters of the year, up 15.9%. Malaysia ranked third with sales of 425,711 vehicles.

Car buyers in Vietnam are still waiting for car prices to decrease.

Meanwhile, with a growth rate of up to 80%, Myanmar is considered a potential automobile market in the Southeast Asian region in the future. At the end of the first 9 months of 2017, the number of automobiles sold in this country reached 5,369 vehicles, an increase of 2,387 vehicles.

Contrary to this trend, strong fluctuations in car prices along with consumers' waiting mentality caused car purchasing power in Vietnam to decrease by 4.2% and continue to stagnate in 5th place. At the end of the first 3 quarters of 2017, the Vietnamese car market consumed 184,831 cars, down 8,091 cars compared to the same period last year. Along with Brunei, Vietnam is 2 of 8 markets in the ASEAN Automobile Association with car consumption decreasing compared to the same period last year.

The 0% import tax on cars from ASEAN will help make the Vietnamese car market more vibrant.

Since the beginning of the year, the selling prices of some car models in Vietnam have continuously decreased sharply, causing consumers to be confused and willing to wait until 2018 to make a decision to buy a car. According to the roadmap of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), from January 1, 2018, the selling prices of some car models imported from ASEAN with a localization rate of over 40% in the bloc to Vietnam will enjoy an import tax rate of 0%.

Meanwhile, to create competitive opportunities and promote the domestic automobile manufacturing industry, Vietnam has recently issued preferential policies on import taxes on automobile components, along with technical and output conditions for domestic automobile assembly units.

With people's shopping needs often tending to increase sharply at the end of the year, car consumption in ASEAN countries is forecast to continue to increase.

Car consumption of ASEAN Automotive Federation (AAF) countries:

According to thanhnien.vn