In average, Vietnam imported 75,000 cars per year, in which the number reached its peak in 2015 with 125,500 units.
Vietnam spent US$11.7 billion importing cars.
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This is opposite to previous estimations that imported cars will dominate Vietnam's market after the automobile import tariff will slip to 0% as the ASEAN trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) took effect in the beginning of 2018.
A slump in the number of imported cars to Vietnam in the first period of 2018 was due to the impact of the Government's Decree No.116 116 specifying the regulatory conditions and licenses for automobile manufacturing, assembling, importing, maintenance, and warranty businesses. Substantially, car importers are required to provide a type approval certificate as stipulated in the Decree No.116.
Notably, vehicles with nine seats or less accounted for 86% of total imported CBUs. However, this trend has been declining in the last two years, while the number of imported trucks is increasing.
In 2015, the number of under-nine-seat vehicle reached a record high with 51,400 units. This number was decreased to 50,600 in 2016 and 38,800 in 2017.
The majority of imported CBUs to Vietnam is from Korea, India, Thailand and Japan. Since 2017, the number of under-nine-seat cars from Thailand, Indonesia witnessed a sharp increase and dominating the Vietnam's market.
In the first quarter alone, the number of under-nine-seat cars originated from Thailand is recorded at 2,900 units, accounting for 95% of the total imported cars.
Car sales in March are reported at 21,127 units, including 12,858 passenger cars, 6,949 commercial cars and 1,320 special-purpose cars, according to sales report of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA).
From April onwards, it is expected that the number of imported cars from Thailand and Indonesia will be growing, resulting in the increasing in import turnover in the coming months, the General Statistics Office forecasted.
