Despite sluggish auto sales, import revenues still up

Contrary to all predictions, the number of cars imported to Vietnam has increased, even though slow sales have been reported by many auto showrooms in Hanoi.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) estimated that the number of cars imported under the mode of completely built units (CBU) in May increased by 4500, while import revenues rose by $78 million. This represents an increase of 1000 cars and $17 million in import revenue compred to 2009.

As such, the number of CBU cars imported to Vietnam continues expanding, despite reports that car sales have slowed.

One month ago, GSO estimated that the number of cars imported to Vietnam in April was 3000, a decrease of 1000 cars from March. However, statistics released later showed that the number of CBU cars imported in April was higher by 500 than the GSO figure.

In the first quarter of 2010, Vietnam imported 13,100 cars with a total import revenue of $223 million. If counting May estimates, the total car import revenue for the first five months would be $301 million, while the number of car imported would be 17,600, an increase of 2.1 percent in quantity and a decrease of 2.6 percent in value from the same period of 2009.

The figures demonstrate that slow car sales has not been so serious that it has affected auto import turnover.

According to Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam, there are two main characteristics of the import car market in Vietnam now.

The car import revenue in the last five months
	Number of cars	Value (million dollar)
January	3,400	55
February	3,000	45
March	4,000	62
April	3,500	61
May (estimates)	4,500	78

(Source: General Statistics Office)

First, the car sales slump is only taking place in Hanoi. Although Hanoi auto dealers all reported slow sales, the HCM City market is very lively.

Second, only sales of cars imported through unofficial channels have been sluggish, while authorized distributors of big manufacturers have reported good sales. Representatives of Euro Auto, which distributes BMW cars, PSC, which distributes Porsche, or Trans-Asia International, which distributes Audi, all report satisfactory sales. Even more, sometimes the distributors do not have enough cars for their customers.

These findings explain why many dealers cannot sell the product, but the auto import turnover has not decreased.

Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam

Tags: Vietnam Auto market, Vietnam auto sales, Vietnam automotive, Vietnam automotive industry