Car market after Tet: Many car models "sold out"
Not only imported car models, but also domestic car models are experiencing widespread shortages. The reason, according to dealers, is that the demand for shopping before Tet is so great that factories cannot keep up with production.
Just entering 2018, the Vietnamese automobile market has received a lot of negative news. Imported cars are having difficulty returning to the country due to Decree 116, which has caused the market to shift to domestically assembled cars and caused local "out of stock" in some car models.
When will imported cars arrive at Vietnamese ports?
According to information from the General Department of Customs, in the second half of January 2018, the situation of importing completely built-up cars has not shown any signs of recovery and is still in a frozen state.
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| According to information from the General Department of Customs, in the second half of January 2018, the situation of importing completely built-up cars has not shown any signs of recovery and is still in a frozen state. |
Of which, the whole country only imported 12 cars with less than 9 seats, thereby, in the first month of 2018, the number of imported cars with less than 9 seats was only 17, with a total turnover value of 567,255 USD.
Compared to January 2017, the number of imported cars with less than 9 seats decreased by 5,413 vehicles, equivalent to a decrease of nearly 320 times.
However, in terms of average import prices, import results at the beginning of this year were significantly higher than the same period in 2017.
Specifically, last January, the average import price of imported cars with less than 9 seats reached 33,368 USD/car (excluding taxes), while the price in the same period in 2017 was only about 18,000 USD/car.
In general, in January, the country imported 340 complete cars of all kinds (including cars with less than 9 seats), with a total turnover value of more than 21.537 million USD. Compared to the same period in 2017, this result decreased sharply when in the same period in 2017, the country imported 7,227 cars, with a total turnover value of more than 151.391 million USD.
Decree 116 has caused imported cars to be "whistled" when they enter the country. However, the Ministry of Transport has also issued Circular No. 03/2018/TT-BGTVT guiding the implementation of Decree 116 on car imports at the end of January 2018. These are the necessary regulations to solve the current shortage of goods.
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| Some car manufacturers believe that the car market will have to wait until the second quarter of 2018 for significant signs. |
Car manufacturers still do not have the necessary information to provide to the market about when new imported cars will arrive in the country. Specifically, Honda Vietnam responded to the press that the company is actively working with partners who are non-governmental organizations in Japan to be granted this type of certificate as soon as possible. Only then will Honda Vietnam be able to import cars to Vietnam.
However, some car manufacturers believe that everything will have to wait until the second quarter of 2018, at the latest the end of the second quarter, when there will be significant signals.
Foreign cars are hard to come by, "domestic" cars are out of stock
The period before Lunar New Year is always the golden time for car companies operating in Vietnam.
Currently, there are no specific figures on the car business situation before Tet, but, if it is like every year, sales 1 month before Tet always surpass those of other months of the year.
According to the report of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), in January 2018, the entire Vietnamese automobile market consumed 26,037 vehicles of all kinds, an increase of 28% compared to the same period in 2017 but a decrease of 7% compared to December 2017.
The output of domestically assembled cars reached 20,586 vehicles, up 3%, and the number of imported cars was 5,451 vehicles, down 30% compared to the last month of 2017.
Hot car models on the market such as Toyota Fortuner, Ford Ranger, Honda CR-V,... have sales that are somewhat inferior to domestically assembled models such as Mazda CX-5, Mazda3, KIA Morning...
This is a rare occurrence in Vietnam. It is known that imported cars are out of stock for sale and this is the driving force for the rise of "domestic" cars.
However, the demand for shopping before Tet has caused many "domestic" car lines to sell out and turned the Vietnamese market into a "hot pot".
According to survey,Currently, domestic car lines such as Mitsubishi Outlander, Hyundai Elantra Sport... are in short supply on a large scale. Customers who want to buy a car at this time have no choice but to wait.
A Mitsubishi dealer in Hanoi said that most of the first production batches have been sold out. In case customers want to buy an Outlander, they will have to wait for the company's next production batch, which will fall around March or April 2018.
However, the shortage will be resolved in the period after Tet as the demand for luxury goods such as cars and motorbikes tends to decrease. And the second quarter of 2018 will be a reasonable period if consumers have a need to buy personal cars.
