VietNamNet Bridge – The Government in 2013 has come up with a host of solutions to help prop up the struggling auto market but car markers only believe in a slight rise in sales volume, saying the market will still be in troubles this year.

Customers inspect a Mazda car at an exhibition in HCMC. Automakers expect sales this year to grow some 10%.

Most of auto producers forecast this year’s auto market will slightly recover against 2012. They attributed the possible growth to the fact that the Government has approved key measures to stimulate the demand.

The supporting policies are cancellation of a planned collection of personal vehicle fee, reduction of registration fee to 10% for new under-ten-seat cars and to 2% for secondhand vehicles.

Members in the industry agree that the Government’s lowered lending rates and huge capital volume for rescuing the economy will also be decisive for the auto market to recover.

The aforesaid moves are considered solutions to remove bottlenecks of the market that has fallen into difficulties since last year. Moreover, car makers said, there is still much room for the local auto market’s growth, citing rising demand at home.

These are the reasons why Yoshihisa Maruta, general director of Toyota Vietnam, forecasts the Vietnamese auto market will change for the better this year. He predicts higher growth of the market than in 2012, at some 10%.

Gaurav Gupta, managing director of General Motors Vietnam, forecasts growth of the 2013 auto market at 5-10%, adding it is thanks to the efforts of both State agencies and industry insiders.

Laurent Charpentier, general director of Ford Vietnam, meanwhile points to lingering challenges for the economy in general and the auto industry in particular this year. The slow recovery of the economy plus fee and tax barriers targeting car users will demand greater efforts from makers to prevent sales volume from falling further, he added.
But he also notices positive signals of the regional and global auto markets.

“Taking the case of Ford as an example, we have gained strong growth in ASEAN and other key markets in Asia-Pacific region as well as in North America,” he said. “Hopefully, the Vietnamese auto market will soon recover as expected,” he added.

The forecasts show that the market is somehow warmer than in 2012, which is also predicted by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA). The association believes that this year’s sales volume will reach some 100,000 units, a rise of 8% year-on-year.

Source: SGT