Car market sales increase slightly, anxiously waiting for registration fee reduction policy

According to data just announced by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) on the afternoon of June 11, the number of vehicles sold in the entire market by member units in May 2024 reached 25,794 vehicles of all types, a slight increase of 6% compared to the previous month and an increase of 24% compared to the same period last year.

Specifically, passenger cars reached 18,235 units, up 6% compared to April 2024; commercial vehicles reached 7,292 units, up 7% and specialized vehicles reached 276 units, down 4%.

In terms of vehicle origin, while the consumption of domestically assembled vehicles reached 11,983 vehicles, up only 0.02% compared to the previous month, imported vehicles reached 13,809 vehicles, up 12%.

Regarding the brand market share ranking in May 2024, Toyota continued to hold the top position with sales of 5,356 vehicles, an increase of 19% compared to April. Hyundai was still in second place with 4,914 vehicles. Thanks to its good sales performance, Ford remained in third place with 3,270 vehicles. The remaining positions were Mitsubishi (3,151 vehicles), KIA (2,315 vehicles), Mazda (2,290 vehicles), Honda (1,179 vehicles)...

Combining the sales of VAMA and TC Group in May, the entire market consumed a total of 30,704 vehicles of all kinds, bringing the total number of vehicles sold in the first 5 months of 2024 to 127,613 vehicles. On average, the market consumes about 25,522 vehicles per month.

However, the above figures do not fully reflect the Vietnamese auto market because brands such as Audi, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Volkswagen, Volvo... do not disclose information about business results.

It can be seen that in May 2024, the number of cars sold increased slightly compared to the previous month. This can be explained by the stimulus from the car manufacturers themselves to compete for sales.

Since the beginning of the month, many brands have reduced prices or given away registration fees from 50-100% to car buyers: Honda reduced registration fees by 50-100% for CR-V, City, HR-V, Accord and Civic models; Hyundai also reduced prices for old Santa Fe, Custin, Accent from tens to hundreds of millions of VND, Mitsubishi offered registration fees and gifts for 2 Mitsubishi Outlander or Pajero Sport models of more than 100 million VND, Toyota strongly reduced the price of Vios by up to 50 million VND, contributing to increasing the revenue of this sedan model...

However, many customers are hesitant to buy a car because they are "waiting" for the Government's policy of reducing registration fees for domestically assembled cars, so the sales of car companies have not been able to "accelerate".

According to records, many car dealers said that there were quite a few customers who came to see the car and paid a deposit, but when the dealer had the car ready for delivery, the customers still refused to pay the remaining amount because they were waiting for a reduction in registration fees.

“Some car buyers even paid 70% of the contract value in advance but have not yet received the car, and the dealer has not issued an invoice. When the new registration tax rate is applied, the customer comes to pay the remaining 30% of the car price, the dealer issues an invoice and registers to benefit,” said Mr. Cong Duy, a sales specialist at a car dealership in Hanoi.

It is also for this reason that the output of completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles last month had almost no growth, only increasing by 0.02% compared to April 2024.

Experts in the auto industry predict that in the coming time, car purchasing power may increase as the Government has "given the green light" to soon issue a Decree reducing 50% of registration fees for domestically produced and assembled cars, thereby leading to better market purchasing power in the second half of 2024.