Vietnam’s May car output is estimated to increase by 12.66 per cent against April as automakers are hopeful of higher sales when the government imposed high taxes on imported used automobiles.
“We believe that our sales will be higher in the coming months thanks to unreachable used cars,” a carmaker said.
However, this month’s production is still 53.2 per cent lower than the same period last year reaching only 2,714 units, totaling 9,319 units in the January-May period, down 44 per cent on year, according to the government's General Statistics Office (GSO).
The market slowdown is still affected by the government’s policy to allow sales of imported secondhand cars in the country from May, 2006, he said.
Unfortunately, secondhand cars from other countries find it hard to enter Vietnam due to a high-taxing mechanism, which may raise car values by up to six times compared with their import prices as they reach Vietnam.
After nearly one month, only 10 used cars have been imported into Vietnam.
According to the GSO, foreign-led carmakers still dominate the Vietnamese automotive industry with the production of 8,443 units in the past five months and 1,763 units in May, followed by private firms with 2,600 units and 706 units, and State firms with 991 units and 245 units, respectively.
With a fledging auto industry, all carmakers in the country have to import parts for production. They spent around $57 million on car parts in January and May of this year.
Last year, the auto industry turned out nearly 65,000 units, up over 30 per cent on year.
GSO
Vietnamese
