Ghost month: Cars discounted by hundreds of millions still have few customers

Businesses said that the automobile market has been extremely gloomy since the beginning of the seventh lunar month, with sales down about 30% compared to last month.

It has become a rule that every year, during the seventh lunar month (ghost month), the Vietnamese automobile market enters a period of decline and most car models are heavily discounted to stimulate demand, but consumption is still very slow.

Every year, in the 7th lunar month, the Vietnamese automobile market enters a period of decline. Car prices drop sharply.

Most of the car models sold have been heavily discounted, but not many customers are excited. Toyota Vietnam, although leading the market, also has a series of popular car models that have had to be deeply discounted.

The Camry model is currently discounted by 85-90 million VND, depending on the version. For example, with the 2.0E version, dealers are selling it at 1.035 billion VND, down nearly 90 million VND compared to the suggested price of 1.122 billion VND, or the 2.5G version is also discounted by 85 million VND, while the highest version Camry 2.5Q has the biggest discount, over 90 million, down to 1.322 billion VND.

Vios is a best-selling car model, but dealers also discount from 30-43 million VND/car, depending on the version, in addition to giving away 1 year of physical insurance and genuine accessory packages such as window film, floor mats, maintenance packages for spare parts replacement, oil change vouchers, free gas refueling...

The Altis model has recently been discounted by 70-90 million VND. Now, buyers will receive a 1-year physical insurance. In addition, dealers also offer vehicle registration fees, 30% of registration fees (can be converted into cash), genuine accessory packages, maintenance packages for spare parts, oil change vouchers, free gas refills, etc.

After announcing discounts for some of its car models in early August, Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco) continues to increase incentives in the seventh lunar month, when shockingly reducing prices for most car models with discounts of up to more than one hundred million VND. Specifically, from August 15 to August 31, Mazda, Kia and Peugeot car brands will be discounted, with free insurance and accessories. The highest discount belongs to Mazda6 with 110 million VND, Kia Sedona 105 million VND, followed by Sorento 74 million VND, Peugeot 3008, 508 reduced by 70 million VND...

Ford Vietnam also has many models with strong discounts. The Focus 1.5L Ecoboost model has a published price of 899 million VND, but during the ghost month, the price was reduced to 760 million VND, and now it has been further reduced to 745 million VND. The Ecosport 1.0L Ecoboost model, with a price reduction to 630 million VND, now includes an additional year of body insurance...

As soon as the 7th lunar month begins, Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam immediately has a promotion program with many attractive incentives such as giving gifts worth 10 million VND to customers buying Mitsubishi Mirage cars, 25 million VND to customers buying Mitsubishi Attrage cars... With SUV and pickup models such as Outlander Sport, Triton..., they are given accessory packages worth up to tens of millions of VND.

Buy cheap car afraid of limit?

Car sales staff said that since the beginning of the seventh lunar month, the number of customers buying cars has decreased significantly. Most of them have not reached their sales target despite continuously approaching potential customers. A Ford car sales staff in Hanoi said that the monthly sales target assigned by the dealership is about 2 billion VND, equivalent to selling 3 Ecosports, but since the beginning of the month, only 1 car has been sold, customers are not enthusiastic about buying cars during the ghost month.

According to folk beliefs, during the ghost month, one should not do big things such as breaking ground to build a house, buying a car, many important events and plans should be avoided. If done, it will not go smoothly and there will be many risks. For many people, a car is a big asset, so when buying one, one must choose a good day and month. That is also the reason why many people are very hesitant when buying a car in the 7th lunar month.

However, many people believe that, ignoring the above taboos, this is a good time to buy a car, because many car manufacturers are offering discounts to stimulate demand. Because it is the slowest time of the year, manufacturers often offer drastic discounts to avoid sales failures. Thanks to that, users can also receive much more preferential prices than at other times. Currently, car companies are accepting customers to deposit and sign car purchase contracts to enjoy incentives, and the car will be received at the beginning of the 8th lunar month. Most sales staff persuade customers to buy cars in this way.

Mr. Bui Kim Kha, Deputy General Director of Thaco, said that in order to provide maximum support to customers who want to buy cars and enjoy high incentives but are afraid of the 7th lunar month, we have applied a flexible payment policy. That is, we agree that customers only need to make a deposit to enjoy incentives, and the procedures for signing a sales contract and receiving the car will be flexibly implemented when the 8th lunar month comes. Some other auto companies are also increasing incentive programs in the remaining 2 weeks of the 7th lunar month to keep sales from falling and revealed that they will cut these programs at the end of the year to compensate.

Putting down a deposit to buy a car at a bargain price is no problem, I think I chose the right time, paying after the full moon of the 7th lunar month, leaving the car there until the beginning of August to pick it up, a customer who just bought a car in the 7th lunar month said./.

According to VOV.VN