Business
June 10, 2005
Vietnam sells more automobiles in 5 months
Automobile assemblers in Vietnam posted total sales of 12,851 units in first 5 months of this year, a year-on-year surge of 30 percent, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) told Xinhua Friday.
The sales rise was mainly attributed to the frequent launch of new models and promotion campaigns. Besides, the automakers recorded big sales in January, a result of deliveries to consumers who paid deposits on cars in late 2004 in order to avoid the hike in the special consumption tax on passenger cars with fewer five seats, to 40 percent from 24 percent, in early 2005, the association said.
Vietnam imported 8,000 automobiles valued at 130 million US dollars in the first 5 months of this year, posting year-on-year respective increases of 6.4 percent and 18.9 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.
Meanwhile, it spent 265 million dollars importing automobile components for assembly.
Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment has so far this year licensed two automobile projects: a 60 million dollar project with annual capacity of 10,000 units of Honda Vietnam, and a 70 million dollar project with annual capacity of 15,000 trucks and buses of a Malaysia-Vietnam joint venture.
Local experts said the demand for automobiles of Vietnam with the current population of 82 million people will remain high in the coming years, citing the country's high economic growth and low penetration of cars among local residents as major reasons.
Every 145 Vietnamese people have a car, compared with the rate of 4-5 in Malaysia, 9-10 in Thailand and 30-32 in the Philippines, the VAMA said.
Vietnam currently houses 13 automobile joint ventures with total registered capital of nearly 700 million dollars and combined annual capacity of 173,000 units.
Source: Xinhua
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