Sales of imported cars hit 67,035 in the first half of 2024 in Vietnam, a 16 percent increase over a year earlier, VN Express is reporting based on data from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association. At the same time just 67,849 locally assembled vehicles were sold.
Most of these imports came from Indonesia, Thailand, and China which have seen their car market share in Vietnam grow on the back of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, or ACFTA, that has seen import tariffs on most small cars with less than 9 seats reduced to zero.
Vietnam has tried to support its local car makers through support policies like a 50 percent reduction in registration fees. This, however, has been raised as an issue by the European Union which has suggested that by applying a discount to locally made cars only Vietnam may be breaching its equal treatment commitments as a member of the World Trade Organisation.
See also: Vietnam’s Automotive Industry: Foreign Investor’s Guide 2024