Vinamotor which manufactures trucks and
commercial vehicles accounted for 18.6% of the total auto sales of VAMA
members in January this year.
VAMA member companies sold
2,560 more units in January than in February. VAMA blamed the poor
February performance to a 47% shrinkage of demand for sport utility
vehicles (SUV) and multi-purpose vehicles (MPV). Sales of commercial
vehicles last month were down 53% from a year ago but VAMA put
passenger car sale volume at 1,615 units, up 57%.
Mercedes-Benz Vietnam and
Toyota Vietnam saw the respective year-on-year sales increases of 25%
and 10% to 185 units and over 1,800 units, but some others reported
declines of up to 87%.
Hino sales plunged 65% to a
meager 30 vehicles last month, and Ford Vietnam sold around 238
vehicles, down 52%. VinaStar (Mitsubishi) and Honda Vietnam faced the
same situation with their respective sales dropping 77% to 44 units and
70% to 88 units. Isuzu Vietnam was not spared with sales slumping 87%
to 27 units and GM Daewoo saw an 11% contraction to more than 500
units.
Domestic automobile
manufacturers like Truong Hai and Samco posted hefty falls in sales in
February as well.
With January-February
figures combined, however, sales of VAMA members grew 7% year-on-year
to 11,355 units thanks to better results in January.
The passenger car segment
was most impressive with sales expanding a hefty 69%, while commercial
vehicle sales increased 3%. Toyota was still the market leader in terms
of volume with more than 4,000 units sold in the first two months, up
49% year-on-year.
The auto industry this year
will face extra difficulties as vehicle registration fees will be
adjusted up to 10-12% from the previous 5-6%. Automakers and auto
importers early this year announced higher prices since VAT on
automobiles was doubled to 10% from January 1. What’s more, the
Vietnamese dong has declined about 3.3% against the U.S. dollar,
leading automakers to revise up their selling prices from this month.
Similarly, sales of imported
cars also fell in the first two months despite promotions after the
Government removed tax holidays that were in place earlier, importers
said. They declined to give exact numbers, but said sales fell 30-40%
year-on-year.
Car costs have since early
this year risen 10-12% given that VAT was brought back to 10% and
registration fees to 12%. Other sales-affecting factors were banks’
restrictions on car loans and the depreciation of the dong.
Imported cars attract a
tariff of 83%, which goes up in case of luxury cars.
The 50% waiver of
value-added tax (VAT) and car registration fees resulted in record
sales of 120,000 units last year, including 76,300 imported cars,
despite the global economic slump.
The country reportedly
imported 5,900 completely-built units (CBU) worth of US$94 million in
the two first months this year. In February, the import volume was
2,500 units worth US$39 million, down 26.5% from January, the General
Statistics Office (GSO) said.
GSO said the sharp decrease
was a common trend as the first two months of each year often saw a
sharp reduction in car imports due to slackened local demand.
Automakers said the market
was expected to rebound at the end of the year, so total sales in all
of 2010 might match the figure recorded last year.