Automobile sales in Vietnam drop in first half

Automakers in Vietnam sold 15,940 vehicles in the first half of this year, down 14 percent against the same period last year, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) on Tuesday.

However, the automakers saw month-on-month increase in sales for three straight months starting in April, VAMA said, attributing the rise 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.

In June alone, VAMA members sold 3,783 automobiles, up nearly 8. 1 percent over May. Toyota Vietnam continued to hold the biggest local market share last month, with 1,480 sold vehicles.

Industry insiders predicted the domestic market will further warm up after August when Honda Vietnam launches first made-in- Vietnam cars branded Civic, and low-cost vehicles manufactured by Chinese group Lifan enter the market.

"In the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year, we'll bring 500 cars branded Lifan 520 to Vietnam," said Do Van Binh, chairman of the management board of the Bao Toan Company, Vietnamese distributor of Lifan.

"A Lifan four-seat car sells for 15,000-16,000 U.S. dollars. It is only 60 percent of the price of a similar car assembled by foreign joint ventures in Vietnam. Good quality, stylish model, reasonable price and good after-sales service are decisive factors, " he explained.

Vietnam spent 181 million dollars importing completely-built automobiles and components for domestic assembly in the first half of this year, a year-on-year fall of 65 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

Between January and June, it imported 7,000 completely-built automobiles worth 124 million dollars, down 32.7 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

Vietnam currently houses 13 automobile joint ventures with total registered capital of nearly 700 million U.S. dollars and combined annual capacity of 173,000 units.

By mid-2005, every 145 Vietnamese people had a car, compared with the rate of 4-5 in Malaysia, 9-10 in Thailand and 30-32 in the Philippines, said VAMA.

Source: Xinhua