Car imports from Indonesia drop sharply

The number of imported cars to Vietnam continued to decrease sharply in October, especially cars from Indonesia. Meanwhile, the price of imported cars in 2018 is predicted to be difficult to decrease as much as expected.

The imported car market is experiencing many fluctuations - Photo: Quang Dinh

Many car import businesses are concerned that tightening car imports in 2018 will cause a decrease in imported cars and an increase in car prices, which will not be what consumers expect when they buy cheap cars.

According to the General Department of Customs, the number of imported cars in the first 10 months of the year was 77,336 units, down more than 10% over the same period last year.

In October alone, the number of imported cars dropped sharply to 5,838 units, while in September it was slightly higher with more than 6,000 units.

Notably, the Indonesian market dropped sharply from nearly 3,000 units in August to 320 units in September, and only 261 units in October.

Some car import companies said that there was a time when Indonesian imported cars surpassed Thailand to become the country exporting the most completely built-up cars to Vietnam. However, the reality shows that the number of imported cars from Indonesia has decreased sharply in recent months.

In the market, some imported car models have been pushed up in price. For example, Toyota Vietnam's Fortuner model, imported completely from Indonesia, if customers buy at this time, they will have to pay an additional 40 million VND.

Along with a series of policies on imported cars, imported car prices in 2018 may not decrease as much as consumers expect.

For example, the regulation requires each imported shipment to have one vehicle tested, including emissions, brake durability, engine...

According to businesses, the cost of such testing ranges from 40 to 100 million VND/time and it takes from 2 weeks to 2 months to get the results. Previously, when importing, businesses only took 1 car as a sample to test. Subsequent shipments of that model did not need to be tested again.

According to the new regulations, each imported batch, batch after batch, must undergo the same testing. Importing one or three cars, all must undergo testing, which is both costly and time-consuming.

A leader of a German car import business in Ho Chi Minh City said that if the number of imported cars is too large, there will be an overload, and there will be a long wait, so the cars cannot be sold immediately, and the storage costs will be very high. All of these costs are included in the price, making it difficult for car prices to decrease as expected.

According to an economic expert knowledgeable about the automobile industry, the number of imported cars is decreasing, especially from Indonesia, and the cause is not yet clear.

However, with the actual situation that there are only about 2 months left until import tax from ASEAN is 0% in early 2018, import businesses may have to "wait" or the State's policies to tighten import regulations will make it more difficult for businesses to place orders.

According to tuoitre.vn