The Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association’s (VAMA) report showed that the automobile market in 2024 reached its peak in November with 44,200 cars sold, an increase of 14 percent compared with the month before (38,761), and 58 percent over November 2023 (27,953).

If counting sales in the three months when buyers enjoyed the 50 percent vehicle registration tax cut (September, October, November), the total number of cars sold was 119,546, up 48.2 percent over the previous three-month sales. The tax cut helped the car sales increase sharply in the last few months.

As the tax cut policy has expired, the car market turned quiet in early December, though December is always the high sale season for car dealers, because Vietnamese tend to make valuable purchases in the last months of the year before the Tet lunar new year holiday.

While all showrooms in Hanoi were crowded in November, they were less busy in December. Vu Dat, a consultant at a Hyundai sales agent in Hanoi, said the number of visitors had been 30 percent lower than the previous month. 

“The people who planned to buy cars all made purchases in November to enjoy the preferential tax rate,” he explained, adding that popular models such as Accent and Creta were the bestsellers.

“For many buyers, the registration tax equal to 5-6 percent of car value is a big amount which affects their decision to buy cars. As the preferential tax no longer exists, people now have to pay tens of millions of dong more for one product,” he said.

Not only popular models, luxury cars are also selling slowly these days. Thuy Duong, a consultant at a Mercedes-Benz agent in Hanoi, confirmed that the number of visitors to the showroom has decreased compared with November and the same month in 2023, despite big discounts.

“In December, Mercedes Benz Vietnam offers preferences to GLC, S-Class and GLB models under a sale promotion program worth hundreds of million of dong. However, customers are still hesitant to purchase,” she said.

Luong Thanh Tuan from Honda My Dinh said as of December 25, his sale agents had sold 160 cars and the figure would be 200 by the end of this month. If so, sales will be a little bit lower than November and equal to October.

“The demand for cars to celebrate Tet still exists. This, plus our good policy, makes December a right time to buy a car,” Tuan said.

“The Lunar New Year holiday will come in late January 2025, so I think the market will heat up in late December and early January 2025 after a short period of a little decline,” he added.

Other automobile manufacturers and car dealers have run big sale promotion programs to maintain high demand in the post-tax cut period.

Honda Vietnam, for example, has cut 50 percent of registration tax, thus helping Honda City buyers save VND25-28 million. The price cuts, plus 50 percent registration tax, allows clients to buy CR-V from VND900 million.

Toyota supports a 50-100 percent of registration tax on its bestselling models, including Yaris Cross and Corolla Cross (VND33-38 million reduction), and Vios (-VND23 million). Meanwhile, the buyers of MPV models like Veloz Cross and Avanza Premio can save VND56-66 million (100 percent registration tax cut).

THACO has offered preferences on many models with KIA brand. It offers preferences worth VND10-110 million for KIA Sorento, for example, and VND30-40 million for KIA Seltos.

Ford, Hyundai and Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen are also running sale promotion programs to stimulate demand in the month before Tet.

The special feature of the Tet sale season this year is the customers’ attention to electric cars. Besides VinFast, the Vietnamese EV (electric vehicle) manufacturer, the domestic market is witnessing many EV models with diverse origins, attracting youth who love high technology.

EVs in Vietnam are believed to be reasonably priced thanks to the EV support policy (100 percent registration tax cut, applied until the end of February 2025). In addition to the preferences in selling prices, manufacturers are also running trade-in programs, providing support in charging stations and offering free charging for a long period.

In November 2024, 47,300 cars were manufactured and assembled domestically, up 2.8 percent over October and 47.8 percent over October 2023, according to the General Statistics Office.

Hoang Hiep