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According to the sales report recently released by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), while sales of domestically assembled cars decreased, imported cars increased compared to the same period last year.
In recent years, under the Government's efforts to promote domestic automobile production, the Vietnamese automobile market has achieved remarkable results with new car sales reaching over 400,000 vehicles/year. This is evidence of the development of the domestic automobile industry, contributing to the economy and creating jobs for thousands of workers.
Imported cars increase rapidly in proportion
However, the proportion of imported cars in the sales structure is still quite high and has increased sharply from 22.1% in 2016 to 30.8% in 2023. In the first 9 months of 2024, this situation continues to be evident. Specifically, according to the sales report of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) just announced, while the sales of domestically assembled cars reached 113,641 vehicles, down 7.5%, imported cars were 111,942 vehicles, up 28.5% over the same period last year. This shows that consumers' interest in imported cars is quite large.
Many new imported car models for sale in Vietnam have brought a variety of choices for buyers. Many imported car models are often among the best-selling models such as Mitsubishi Xpander, Ford Everest, Hyundai Stargazer, Toyota Yaris Cross...
A similar trend is also occurring in the used car segment. According to the Market Research and Analysis Department of Nextgen Vietnam Joint Stock Company (oto.com.vn), in the period 2019-2022, the rate of used imported car advertisements remained stable at an average of 37%, but this rate increased sharply to about 50% in 2023 and 9 months of 2024.
In Vietnam, popular imported car models today are usually large-sized cars (MPVs, SUVs, pickups). Mitsubishi Xpander is currently distributing both imported and domestically assembled versions, the number of imported used Xpander cars sold in the third quarter of 2024 reached nearly 4,000 listings, surpassing the number of listings for assembled cars.
Meanwhile, although some SUV models of Toyota Fortuner and Ford Ranger have been switched to domestic assembly since 2019 and 2020 respectively, the number of imported cars of these models still shows their "hotness" when there are a relatively large number of advertisements on the market.
Currently, small car models such as Kia Morning and Hyundai Grand i10 are completely assembled in Vietnam, but some old versions imported from Korea from 2015 and earlier are still actively traded with nearly 7,000 sales ads in the third quarter of 2024.
Origin is a popular search criterion.
The country of origin of a car also plays an important role. Many Vietnamese consumers believe that imported cars from countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Japan or South Korea are of better quality than domestically assembled versions.
Currently, Thailand and Indonesia are two countries with developed automobile industries in Southeast Asia, with sales of 775,700 and 1 million vehicles in 2023, respectively (Source: Gaikindo.co.id, Toyota.co.th). These are also the two countries from which Vietnam has imported the most cars in recent years.
In particular, a segment of car buyers have a preference for imported cars, rating the quality of imported cars higher than that of domestically assembled versions. Therefore, in addition to information about the car manufacturer, the car model intended to buy is the most important factor when searching for information, the factor of origin (imported/assembled) also attracts buyers with more than 372,000 searches in the third quarter of 2024, higher than the search level for car color.
The 10 most searched used car models in the third quarter of 2024 were mainly B-class sedans such as Toyota Vios (~800,000 searches), Honda City (~432,000 searches), Hyundai Accent (~426,000 searches); and large 7-seat models such as Toyota Innova (~532,000 searches), Toyota Fortuner (~518,000 searches), Honda CR-V (~482,000 searches). Most of these models have both imported and used assembled versions for sale on the market.
The psychology that imported cars are better than assembled cars partly creates a price gap in used car models. In Vietnam, some new car models are still maintaining both imported and assembled versions. Typical of these are the number one selling car model Mitsubishi Xpander, the king of pickup sales Ford Ranger and the SUV model Toyota Fortuner. These models all apply the same price for both imported and assembled versions.
However, in the used car segment, the price of imported cars is slightly higher than that of domestically assembled cars. The Kia Morning 2011 models imported from Korea with many modern features, even the highest version equipped with 6 airbags, are currently being sold at an average price of 188 million, 35 million higher than the Kia Morning 2012 domestically assembled version.
Since April 2023, TC Motor has been assembling Hyundai Creta versions at its factory in Ninh Binh. The resale price of imported Creta 2022 models is even about 5 million VND higher than the Creta produced in 2023. The price difference is more clearly shown in the 2021 Ford Ranger and 2021 Toyota Fortuner models, where the price of imported used cars is 15-22 million VND higher than domestically assembled cars.
According to experts in the auto industry, the increase in the proportion of imported cars is not only a rough formula but also an opportunity for domestic car manufacturers and assemblers to improve their competitiveness.
The sharp increase in imported cars in the first 9 months of 2024 has shown a significant change in the structure of the automobile market for Vietnam. In particular, the increasing proportion of imported cars is not only a rough formula but also an opportunity for domestic car manufacturers and assemblers to focus more on product quality to improve competitiveness and meet the increasing needs of consumers.
