Vietnam's Finance Ministry has recently slashed import taxes on most kinds of second-hand automobiles by 10-20 percent depending on engine sizes, according to local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times on Tuesday.

Regarding used cars with 5 seats downwards, new tariff on those with engine capacity of 1.0-1.5 liters stands at 6,300 U.S. dollars, down from 7,000 dollars; 1.5-2 liters at 8,500 dollars, down from 10,000 dollars; and 2-2.5 liters at 12,000 dollars, down from 15,000 dollars. The tariff on cars with engine capacity of below 1 liter and between 3-5 liters remains unchanged, and that on those with engine capacity of more than 5 liters is 26,250 dollars, up from 25,000 dollars.

Concerning second-hand automobiles with 6-15 seats, new import taxes either decrease by 15-20 percent or remain the same depending engine sizes. Vehicles with 10-15 seats having engine capacity of 2 liters downward are subject to the new tariff of 6, 800 dollars, instead of 8,000 dollars.

Since Vietnam allowed the import of used cars with 5 seats downwards in May 2006, some 500 units have been imported to the country, 60 percent of which are luxury cars, and around 30 percent are vehicles having engine capacity of below 1 liter.

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 currently houses 13 automobile joint ventures between foreign firms and local ones with total registered capital of nearly 700 million dollars and combined annual capacity of 173,000 units. Besides, the country has dozens of local enterprises specializing in producing automobile parts and assembling simple vehicles.

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

Source: Xinhua