Even though we have entered the "peak season" of year-end shopping and car manufacturers and dealers are constantly launching attractive promotions, discounts, and deals, the auto market is still gloomy and desolate.
Photo: Freepik
With alarming sales, car companies are racing to reduce prices to stimulate demand
Statistics from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) show that car sales in the first 10 months of 2023 decreased by 29% compared to the first 10 months of 2022, equivalent to a loss of more than 70,000 vehicles.
Among them, leading the way is Toyota Vietnam. In the first 10 months of 2023, sales decreased by 42%, equivalent to nearly 30,300 vehicles; Kia decreased by 39%, Honda decreased by 36%, Mitsubishi decreased by 28%... In addition to VAMA, Hyundai is also a car company whose sales decreased by about 25%, equivalent to more than 16,000 vehicles. Sales have dropped sharply, causing businesses' vehicle inventory to be very high.
In that context, the Vietnamese auto market is witnessing a long "race" for deep discounts, taking place loudly in all segments. In the words of car "dealers", 2023 is the time when selling prices are high. The car model reached the bottom on the market.
Not stopping there, according to economic expert Ngo Tri Long, some car manufacturers also launched a policy of massively lowering sales prices to liquidate dealers' inventory of cars, which has driven up the selling price of many car models. new rent reached its lowest level in nearly 10 years.
In fact, before entering the shopping peak at the end of 2023, many businesses and car dealers hinted at cutting incentives at the end of this year, when demand increased, but up to now that has still not happened. not happen. On the contrary, car discount promotions still flood the market, even deeper.
Specifically, Toyota Vietnam from the beginning of December launched a program to donate 50% of registration fees for car models: Vios, Veloz Cross, Avanza Premio, in addition to 50% from the general policy for domestically assembled cars. end of 2023.
Honda Vietnam Company has announced that from December 5, it will implement a 50% registration fee discount program for all car models on sale. Not to mention gifts and domestically produced and assembled vehicles that are still receiving 50% registration fee support from the Government.
Meanwhile, at the Hyundai dealership, the Hyundai Stargazer model has a listed price of 575 - 685 million VND. In November, the price was reduced by 120-130 million VND, but it is still difficult to sell. In December, the price was reduced by another 10 million VND; The high-end diesel version of the SantaFe model produced in 2022 is being reduced by 210 million VND.
The auto business community believes that the difficulties will continue to last into 2024. Many businesses and auto dealers are still facing sluggishness, high inventory, reduced operations and losses.
Difficult to get from a genuine dealer to a used car garage
According to experts, the Vietnamese automobile market is going through a challenging period. The economic downturn leads to a decrease in income, causing people to tighten their spending along with restrictions on credit policies... causing a prolonged decline in car purchasing power in the market.
Photo: Freepik
Despite efforts to launch new models, as well as discounts, registration fee support from 50% - 100% and attractive gifts from tens to hundreds of millions of dong, car consumption in Vietnam in 2023 is still in deep decline. Car purchasing power this year decreased sharply compared to the same period last year. The decline occurred in all segments, car sales were lower than the period when the market was affected by the epidemic for a long time.
In fact, a survey at a number of car dealerships in Hanoi in the early days of December 2023 shows that the number of customers coming to see cars has not shown signs of increasing, different from previous years.
"This year the economy is difficult, not many people dare to spend money to buy a car, so demand is very weak. There are many customers who have money, even though they have asked for a car, but still hesitate to buy it due to the psychology of saving for risks. prolonged economic difficulties. At this time, cars under 1 billion VND are very difficult to sell," said a car salesman at a Toyota dealership in central Hanoi.
Similarly, car dealerships like Honda, Hyundai, Kia... are not much better. A KIA car salesperson at Pham Van Dong dealership (Bac Tu Liem, Hanoi) said that normally shopping peaks at the end of the year, but this year the sales volume is very low.
“Having been in the car business for many years, I have never seen the market this bad. Normally, every month at the end of the year, I can sell dozens of cars, but in the past few months, there have been weeks where I have not been able to close any customers despite registration fee support and great incentives from the manufacturer," this employee shared.
The gloomy situation not only occurs at genuine dealers, but garages and used car dealers are also in a situation of "standing still" when a large number of imported cars, despite deep discounts, even accepting received a "blood loss" to recover capital but still could not sell the car.
Mr. Duc, owner of a garage selling used cars on Pham Hung street, said that in the past few years, car dealers have never been as "hungry" as this year and do not know when it will be better.
"Borrowed capital to import dozens of cars to prepare for the last month of the year, but last week we only sold one car. Customers mainly came to see how much the price had dropped, not to buy. Cars cannot be sold while cleaning costs, premises, and staff still have to be paid, now even if you want to "cut blood" to collect money, it is difficult," Mr. Duc shared.
(Markettimes)