Cheap Chinese electric cars are flooding into Vietnam

March 15, 2023 08:00

The market for cheap electric cars priced at 100 - 250 million VND is promising to "make waves" with a series of Chinese brands launching assembly and distribution projects. Many businesses are also bustling to deploy distribution in Vietnam.

The electric car market is facing the possibility of disruption with super cheap cars, although the after-sales service and quality are unknown.

Mini electric car worth hundreds of millions

Mr. Bui Van Huu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TMT Motors, said that he will pioneer the opening of the 4-seat HongGuang MiniEV mini electric car segment in Vietnam. The company has entered into a joint venture with General Motors (GM) - (Saic - Wuling) in mid-February 2023 to exclusively manufacture, assemble and distribute mini electric cars in Vietnam.

According to information released by TMT, this model will be assembled at a factory in Hung Yen province with a capacity of up to 30,000 vehicles/year. This model is considered suitable for use in urban areas at low speeds and is considered a replacement for motorbikes.

In China, models like the Wuling HongGuang MiniEV are only considered a motorbike replacement due to their low operating range (about 120km per full charge) and the maximum power of the vehicle is only 17.4 horsepower and maximum torque of 85 Nm. The starting price of the HongGuang MiniEV in China is more than 4,000 USD (nearly 90 million VND).

TMT has not confirmed the selling price in Vietnam, but many "marketing" advertisements have reported a price of about 100 - 260 million VND/unit.

Meanwhile, the lowest price of electric cars from VinFast, MG, Kia, Mercedes, Audi... is around 700 million VND/car, with some models even costing up to 6 billion VND/car.

Having previously operated ineffectively and withdrawn from the Vietnamese market, Chery and Haima unexpectedly returned in early 2023 to lay the foundation for selling cars to Vietnamese customers. They are looking for assemblers and businesses in Vietnam with models such as Haima 8S, 7X and 7X-E in the second half of this year.

A general director of an automobile assembly company in Ho Chi Minh City said that Chinese car brands are returning to the Vietnamese market with many product lines through assembly or complete import. His company also received a few experimental assembled models, including electric cars and electric trucks.

According to this person's initial assessment, electric cars are quite cheap, only about 200 - 260 million VND/car. "This car can only run within the city 200km or less, but it is difficult to go far and at high speed" - he said and believed that if the car helps to avoid the rain and sun but costs the same as the SH, there will still be buyers.

Some experts say that low prices are not always the "medicine" to attract customers. In Vietnam, the small car segment Honda Brio, Toyota Wigo or Suzuki Celerio priced at 350 - 500 million VND... also "bloomed quickly and faded quickly", with few customers, so some companies stopped doing business.

Strict quality control

Associate Professor Dr. Ly Hung Anh, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, said that in the years 1998 - 2005, a wave of cheap Chinese motorbikes were imported into Vietnam at only 6 - 8.5 million VND/unit. The loose quality control caused the Vietnamese market to be flooded with low-quality, unsafe and polluting motorbikes.

After that, they were gradually eliminated and now almost disappeared from the market. According to Mr. Ly Hung Anh, if electric cars are mass produced and sold at super cheap prices, it will be more bad than good.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Dong, an auto expert, also believes that we should not "ostracize" the origin of the vehicle. The appearance of cheap mini electric vehicles is a good trend, but it is necessary to strictly manage the quality, life cycle (life) and recycling of batteries, if relaxed, it will be very harmful to the environment.

Many auto experts believe that it is not impossible to exclude the possibility of cheap electric cars using outdated technology being sold in Vietnam. It is necessary to prevent the risk of Vietnam becoming a dumping ground for electric car batteries, not to mention the issue of traffic safety. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly control the import of equipment, production lines and assembly of electric cars or the sale of cheap cars at all costs.

Mr. Tran Nhu Phuong - Deputy Director of Ford Suoi Tien (Ho Chi Minh City) - assessed that cars are inspected for quality when they are produced and circulated. However, promoting electric vehicles requires a group of synchronous solutions. In which, it is necessary to complete standards and regulations related to batteries, charging stations and standards related to electric vehicles...

Chinese cars: easy to buy, hard to resell

With gasoline-powered cars, Chinese brand cars are encroaching on Vietnam as they appear more and more.

After a year of using the Beijing X7, Mr. Nguyen Trong - a resident of Richmond City apartment building (Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City) said he was quite satisfied. Considering the same segment and price, Chinese cars have an advantage in terms of interior and amenities.

"Many people ask if it is durable and safe to drive. After more than a year of use, I dare not confirm the quality, but the technology and design of Chinese cars are quite nice, and it is very comfortable to use in the inner city," said Mr. Trong.

Surveying the market, many Chinese branded cars are being sold in Vietnam for less than 800 million VND/car. For example, Zotye T800 costs 728 million VND, Dongfeng T5 costs 700 million VND, Beijing X7 costs 750 million VND... On Cho Tot website, there are currently a series of advertisements with pictures of Chinese car models for 350 - 600 million VND with many locations from Lang Son, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang.

However, used car dealers are quite wary of Chinese brand cars. Mr. Quoc Hung - owner of Hung Auto used car showroom (Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City) - said that used cars from Japanese, Korean, and German brands are more liquid than Chinese brand cars.

Previously, Mr. Hung bought a used Baic Q7 with more than 20,000km for 390 million VND. He thought he would sell it for a good price, but after waiting 3-4 months, there were still no buyers, so he had to lower the price, losing more than 30 million VND to push the goods. "Customers are afraid to buy it because the price will decrease, and spare parts are difficult to replace," said Mr. Hung.

According to Tuoi Tre