Taxes dampen used car imports in Vietnam

Used-car imports plummeted up to 70 per cent in August due to taxes being increased to $3,000-$17,000 per vehicle, depending on the size.

Only 199 secondhand cars were imported in the period, a fall of more than 70 per cent over the same month last year.

Of the total figure, around 170 units were low-end vehicles, selling at $3,600 – $4,000 each; 30 luxury cars, such as Audi, Lexus, Mercedes and BMW, sold for $20,000 – $73,000, most of which came into the country before the new tax rate became effective on August 15.

From that date, 1.0 litre passenger cars with less than 10 seats are being taxed $3,500 while those up to 1.5 litres $8,000; passenger cars with 10-15 seats and of 2.0 litre capacity, less $9,500; cars 2.0-3.0 litres $13,000; larger than 3.0 litres $17,000.

Used-car dealers were prepared for the drop off in sales, said a staff member of an auto showroom in Lang Ha street, Hanoi .

His company had not imported used-cars since August 15.

“We imported a large number before, so we’ll sell what we have and wait for the government to sort things out,” he said.

Companies have been permitted to import used-cars since May 2006. At first around 10,000 units were imported in 2006-2007, of which 50 per cent were luxury cars while the rest were vehicles which could not be produced locally, such as the Toyota Sienna, the Honda Odyssey, the Nissan Quest and the Murano.

Tags: Vietnam automotive, Vietnam automotive industry, Vietnam autos market, Vietnam car imports

Posted by VBN on Sep 22 2011. Filed under Automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry