Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam imported nearly 4,800 Indian cars in the firstquarter of this year, increasing more than threefold compared with the sameperiod last year, according to the Vietnam Customs.
The average costs, insurance and freight (CIF) price were reported at nearly 3,800USD each, which does not include taxes and fees, the report said.
This price is seen as very cheap as the average prices from other countriessuch as Thailand, Indonesia and the Republic Korea is about 17,000 - 18,000 USDeach.
Bui Xuan Truong, a leader of Anycar Vietnam Company, said many Vietnamesecustomers like Indian cars because of their eye-catching designs,diversification of models, and prices which are much cheaper than other cars inthe same segment.
“Almost all customers, who have between 300 million VND and 400 million VND,will choose Indian cars, in addition to the customer psychology of usingimported cars,” Truong said to plo.vn, an online news web of the HCMCity’s Judicial Department.
Sharing the opinion about the reason for the popularity of cheap Indian cars,auto expert Pham Xuan Mai said the automakers cut down a number of parts andcomponents.
“For example, a small sedan imported from India has fewer air bags and severalother components, leading to the fact that its convenience and safeness are notas high as others from ASEAN countries,” said Mai.
Cars imported from India, especially those in the small-size segment, areequipped with rudimentary safety facilities. Almost all have only one air bagfor the driver, while cars imported from other countries have more air bags orare equipped with the safe electronic brake systems.
Nguyen Nghia, a resident in HCM City’s Thu Duc district owning an Indian car,said the weak points of Indian car are low safety, uncomfortable seats and weaksoundproofing.
“In particularly, the tyre is so small that it does not grip the road well andits fuel savings are bad. However, one needs more time to make an accurateevaluation of the quality,” Nghia said.
Insiders predicted that after a period of attracting Vietnamese customers withcheap prices, Indian cars will slowly lose their market share because they willnot be able to compete with imported cars from other countries on the qualityaspect. With their current quality, Indian cars will likely go the way ofChinese automobiles whose popularity waned a short while after entering theVietnamese market.
Tata Nano is an example. The car is priced at about 2,500 USD in India. If itis exported to Vietnam, its price will increase after taxes and fees to roughly100 million VND. However, the car has only one rear view mirror, no airconditioner and uncomfortable seats.
With cars such as Tata Nano which are made in India, Mai said its fate could besimilar to that of Chinese cars because of their low safety. As for otherglobal trademarks, which were manufactured and assembled in India such asSuzuki, Hyundai and Honda, they could still perform well in the Vietnamesemarket.
Truong said Vietnamese customers still prefer to use modern, good quality andcomfortable cars which are high on the safety quotient.
“Furthermore, the prices of a number of cars imported from ASEAN will go downas of 2018 when the import tax becomes zero percent. This will put pressure oncheap Indian cars. If Indian automakers do not improve the quality to meet theVietnamese customers’ demand, there will be no market share for them in Vietnam,”Truong said.
Pham Nguyen, a representative of an automobile import company, told plo.vn thatthe complete built-up units imported from India were “suspiciously cheap”.
He said Indian cars are suffering from an import tax of 70 percent of the carvalue, more than double that of cars imported from ASEAN countries, but itsimport price is nearly half of those from ASEAN.
The local auto importers also reported that a number of Indian cars in Vietnam,which were tested for safety under the European New Car Assessment Programme,had worrying results with regard to air bags and anti-skid braking systems.
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They said Vietnam needs to issue standards or apply EU auto quality standardsto control and prevent the import of low-quality cars to the country.-VNA
VNA
