Whilst the domestic motorcycle market has almost reached saturation point, the automobile market is bouncing back amid expectations of more positive signs of recovery.

Over recent months, Viet Nam has seen a growth in sales of automobiles.  According to the Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility department of Toyota Motor Vietnam, the company has maintained its strong grip on first position.  Between January and August, the company has assembled and distributed 24,027 cars, an increase of 18% compared with the same period last year.  In particular, in August alone, 3,615 cars were sold, up 45% against the same month last year.  Of this total, 429 units were sold in the central region.

Auto maintenance in progress

The Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO) saw its auto sales rise to 3,405 in August, 1,361 more than in the same month last year.  Meanwhile, the auto sales by Ford Vietnam and VinaMazda hit 1,287 and 5,050 units respectively.

According to the Viet Nam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, the first half of this year has seen a significant rise in sales of automobiles.  The main growth has been in over 4-seat vehicles produced by Nissan, Mazda, Kia and Vios which are now priced between 400 million VND and 800 million VND.  Domestic customers wanting luxury cars worth several billions of dong each are having to wait several months for delivery.

Under the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement, the import tariffs imposed on vehicles completely built in other ASEAN countries was cut to 50% from this year, and will further reduce to 35% from 2015, 20% from 2016, 10% from 2017 and zero in 2018.  This will make imported vehicles more competitive against locally assembled ones, as well as create a chance for more domestic consumers to own dream cars.