VietNamNet Bridge – As at this time last year, local automobile manufacturers are finding it very hard to churn out cars; meanwhile, customers are finding it very hard to buy cars.

If you go to a car showroom to buy a car, you will hear that you need to pay a deposit and you will get delivery later, because the churned out units all have been sold.

Market observers say that in HCM City, people have to book in advance if they want to buy “hot models”, namely the Toyota Camry 2007, Civic or Captiva.

A salesman at the Daewoo showroom at No 6B Ton Duc Thang in district 1 said that Captiva was now the most wanted model despite the high price of $32,300-34,200/unit. If you register to buy a car right now, you may get it in early 2008.

If choosing to buy the Gentra, clients will have to wait one or two months for delivery. The owner of Saigon Ford at No 91 Pasteur in district 1 said that clients would have to wait two months to get the Everest and one month to get the Ranger.

Toyota Vietnam’s representative also confirmed that the company’s sales agents had orders for the whole of July. Sales agents of Honda Vietnam and Truong Hai Automobile said that the manufacturers did not anticipate the high demand for cars; therefore, the output could not satisfy the demand.

As for Mercedes Benz Vietnam, the manufacturer has stopped churning out several old models, while the new models will only appear on the market in October, which has also contributed to the short supply in the market. Now Mercedes Benz is trying to sell the last units of several models.

Analysts have said that there are many reasons behind the increased car purchasing power. Successful securities investors are now hunting for cars. Moreover, buyers are not delaying their plans to buy cars any longer for fear that car prices will increase once the Euro 2 standard on exhaust fumes becomes effective on July 1, 2007.

Truong Hai’s representative said that the demand for trucks was increasing sharply as the ban on circulating old used vehicles had come into effect.

Truong Hai now is selling more than 1,000 units a month, and the output proves to be too low to meet the demand.

While clients complain that they have to wait too long to get deliveries, automobile manufacturers say that it is very difficult for them to raise the output.

Toyota’s representative said that it had to set up the plan to import car parts for domestic assembly several months in advance. The production plan for 2007 was made in 2006. The manufacturer thought that it could sell 200 units a month in 2007, while sales are estimated at 400 units a month.

Ford Vietnam reported that the selling prices of Ford-made cars were now $500 higher than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). However, in the market, hot models are selling at $1,500-2,000 higher than the MSRP.

Meanwhile, some clients have raised doubts about whether the car fever was actually real or not, as sales agents have been known to create an artificial fever in order to raise market prices.

(Source: Lao dong)

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