Automobile imports surge in first half of 2019

The figure indicates strong demand for automobiles, however, it also shows people prefer imported cars to ones assembled in Vietnam at lower prices.

Most people favour automobiles under 40,000 US dollars, such as Mazda and Sedans. On average, a business imports nearly 12,600 cars. By July, 87,000 completly built cars were imported. 92% of under 9-seat cars imported to Vietnam are mostly from other ASEAN countries. 35,000 of them were from Thailand, and 23,000 from Indonesia.

The trade deficit for automobiles this year is expected to exceed 3.4 billion US dollars, as businesses take advantage of tariff preferences.