Vietnam's auto sales down in 8 months

Vietnam's 15 leading automakers, mainly joint ventures, posted total sales of 23,022 vehicles in the first eight months of this year, a year-on-year decline of 8.4 percent, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association on Tuesday.

However, they saw month-on-month rise in sales for straight months starting in April, the association said, attributing the hike to the fact that not many Vietnamese potential customers have bought imported second-hand cars as expected due to high selling prices caused by high tariffs.

The 15 automakers sold 3,782 vehicles in August, up 12.9 percent against July. Last month, Toyota Vietnam kept on holding the biggest local market share, with 1,385 sold units, followed by local bus and truck maker Truong Hai with 470 vehicles. Meanwhile, many joint ventures, including Ford Vietnam and Mercedes Benz Vietnam, faced smaller sales.

Since launching its first car model in Vietnam late August, Civic with price tags of 30,900-37,800 U.S. dollars), Honda Vietnam has sold several dozens of Civic cars.

The Vietnamese government abolished, in January, a ban on imported second-hand cars, effective from May 1, with tariffs on used cars of two to five seats ranging from 3,000 dollars to 25, 000 dollars depending on engine size.

Besides the import tax, used cars are to bear special consumption tax valued at 2,000-17,500 dollars, and value added tax worth 600-5,250 dollars, depending on engine size.

Vietnam with a population of more than 83 million currently has some 700,000 private-owned cars compared with 17 million motorbikes, according to statistics from the country's Transport Ministry.

Source: Xinhua