Toyota Motor Vietnam Co. (TMV), the largest carmaker in Vietnam, and its rival Isuzu Vietnam have decided to cut jobs due to slow sales in the country, local media said.
Toyota has let go of 50 factory workers while still paying them a 70 per cent salary, a Toyota official said in a recent meeting in Hanoi.
“The information about prices of imported vehicles being much lower than locally made ones has prompted potential buyers to delay purchases,” Toyota Vietnam’s Deputy General Director Quan Thang said.
Toyota cars sales accounted for 49.3 per cent market shares in January and February of this year with 1,470 units, including 922 newly-introduced Innova crossover vehicles, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA).
The sales volume of the Japanese-invested carmaker in the two months was up 18.8 per cent against the same period of 2005 but down 6.5 per cent against the first two months of 2004, VAMA said.
Last month, Isuzu Vietnam also asked all of its 300 factory workers to temporarily stop work for the same reason. The Japanese-led carmaker now is the country’s fourth largest carmaker with 179 vehicles sold in the first two months of this year.
According to local experts, production curtailment is inevitable if automakers are unable to push up sales in the coming time.
VMC, which manufactures BMW, Kia and Mazda, sold 41 cars in the first two months of this year while Daihatsu sold only 54 units.
Slow sales and potential production shrinkages are mainly attributed to government policies supporting the importation of used cars into the country from May 1, they said.
Furthermore, policymakers’ irresolute attitudes toward used car import policies have also encouraged potential buyers to wait. “Until now, they are debating over how to tax imported used cars and how much to levy although the deadline is near,” a carmaker said.
Vietnam is now home to 14 foreign carmakers, including 11 operational ones such as Toyota, Ford, Daewoo, Mitsubishi and Mercedes-Benz, the three under construction include Honda and Chinfon.
VNexpress
Vietnamese
