According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), in November, the association members sold 289,128 cars.
Meanwhile, TC Motor sold alone 70,802 cars between January and November, raising the total car sales during the 11-month period in the Vietnamese market to 359,930 compared to 352, 209 of last year’s same phase.
By late December, car sales would climb to nearly 400,000, including Vinfast and Mercedes-Benz, the record high so far.
In the first 11 months of this year, Hyundai topped the country’s car sales of 70,802, followed by Toyota with 70,633, Honda with 30,113, Mazda with 29,498, Ford with 29,080 and Kia with 26,900.
This is seen as a successful year for Mitsubishi with 26,765 cars sold during the period, ranking the 7th in the market and six times higher than that of 2018. Of the figure, 17,306 were Xpander model.
Despite lower prices, car prices in Vietnam are still 10-20% higher than many regional countries due to high taxes.
Locally-made and assembled cars remained inferior to imported models as producers have to pay high taxes for spare part import.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has forecasted that car import value would be USD3.4 billion this year and the figure would be higher in the coming years. This not only seriously affects domestic automobile production but also affects the trade balance.
The ministry has proposed solutions to support domestic car manufacturers, including not applying special consumption tax for vehicles which are locally-produced, as part of efforts to reduce the price of cars.
VietNamNet/Dtinews
When will cars in Vietnam be cheaper?
The high production costs, taxes and fees all make automobile prices in Vietnam much higher than in other countries in the region.
Cheap Thai cars land in Vietnam, Chinese imports stop suddenly
Cars from Thailand led the market in the first 10 months of 2019, while fewer Chinese products have been imported because of the controversy about China's map with nine dash line.