Developing an automobile industry is a part of the strategy to turn Vietnam into a modern and industrialized country by 2030. More preferences for the industry will be offered in the time to come.

Plenty of local firms have weathered the COVID-19 crisis by selecting niche markets and diversify products to enhance their competitiveness and gain access to the EU market.

A number of large manufacturers slashed car prices in early October, signaling a fierce race in the Vietnamese auto market.

The country's great achievement of containing the spread of COVID-19, plus the EVFTA (EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement), will help Vietnam attract more FDI.

The import tariff on European car imports will be decreasing gradually by 7 percent per annum. It will take at least five years to see considerable price decreases.

More and more cheap cars will flood the Vietnamese market in upcoming months as automobile manufacturers in Thailand and Indonesia have urged their governments to apply measures to boost car exports.

Vietnam’s litchi can now be exported to the Japanese market, and dragon fruit to India.

Vietnamese manufacturers are taking steps to become the ‘new Detroit of Asia’.

Vietnam will be able to reap fruit from the EVFTA if it can improve the legal framework and enhance implementation capability.

Vietnamese enterprises’ awareness of EVFTA has been heightened significantly, and they have prepared to grab business opportunities and find a foothold in the supply chain.

Analysts say that Vietnam will be able to ease reliance on some trade partners because of the EVFTA.

Thailand fears that automobile manufacturers will relocate their production bases to Vietnam to enjoy the preferential tariff when exporting cars to the EU.

The government will soon issue the legal document amending Decree 116 on the conditions for manufacturing, assembling, and importing cars, and providing car maintenance services.

Cars will have to re-test their emissions and teaching driving will be tightened. In addition, car imports from the EU will bear lower tariffs.

The US has proposed to reduce the import tax on some of its agricultural products, including chicken, some fruits, wheat, potato, pork and dairy products.

Despite sale promotion campaigns launched by manufacturers, the car market remained gloomy in the last months of the year.

The weaknesses of the domestic sugar industry and the negative impact from the world sugar market may cause the industry to suffer a new "shock" when ATIGA (ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement) comes into force.

The high production costs, taxes and fees all make automobile prices in Vietnam much higher than in other countries in the region.

Cars from Thailand led the market in the first 10 months of 2019, while fewer Chinese products have been imported because of the controversy about China's map with nine dash line.