VietNamNet Bridge – Domestic automobile joint ventures have expressed their worries that they may have to shut down by 2018, when the import car import tariff reduces to zero percent.

Automobile joint ventures have been put on tenterhooks because they still do not know how the automobile industry development strategy would be like the next year.

Since the government of Vietnam has not made statements if it will commit to develop the automobile industry and how to develop it, foreign investors still cannot do anything except waiting with anxiety.

Meanwhile, an official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said the automobile industry development program for 2010-2020 has been completed by the ministry and it has been put on the table of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, waiting for the report on environmental impacts.

“Necessary works have not been wrapped up yet over the last year. It would be submitted to the government right after the report readies,” he said.

About the program, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said the domestic consumption would be the top priority factor to consider when defining the market segments and key products. Especially, a roadmap on tax cut would be implemented stably from now to 2018, so that automobile manufacturers can draw up their long term plans on doing business in Vietnam.

However, the program has not been approved yet. Even if it is approved right now, the policy would also be brought into life after some years, because the policy would still needs to be concretized by the legal documents to be promulgated by relevant ministries and branches. Quốc hội, như vậy thời gian có

Automobile manufacturers wish to enjoy the policies applied to shipbuilders

The automobile working group emphasized at the latest Vietnam Business Forum that Vietnam needs to make a breakthrough to attract investments, when not much time has been left until 2018. Therefore, it has suggested that automobile industry should be treated as a high technology industry, which means that it should be given investment incentives.

Bui Ngoc Huyen, General Director of Xuan Kien Automobile Corporation, said in the world, automobile is considered the high technology industry, because it integrates advanced technologies and lays the foundation for the development of technologies in other industries.

“However, we have not enjoyed any investment incentives so far,” Huyen said.

“We are making cars. I think that the state should cut 50 percent of luxury tax applied to the manufacturers who have the percentage of locally made content at over 50 percent,” Huyen said.

“The Ministry of Industry and Trade has agreed to the proposal, but the Ministry of Finance rejected,” he complained.

In Vietnam, automobile has never been considered a high technology industry; therefore, it has never enjoyed any preferences. Meanwhile, the shipbuilding industry, which is considered as a medium-technology industry, has received a lot of privileges.

If the government had given to the automobile industry the same preferences as it gave to the shipbuilding industry, Vietnam’s automobile industry would have gained big achievements.

Vietnam has the population of 90 million people who have increasing incomes. Meanwhile, the percentage of car users remains modest, just two cars for every 1000 people. Therefore, the demand in the market is believed to be very high.

If the automobile industry can develop well, it would make a higher contribution to the GDP. The figure is now three percent, while in Thailand, it is 10 percent.

Tran Thuy