VietNamNet Bridge – Though distributors now still find it hard to sell imported brand new cars, experts still believe that imports would be the favorite choice for Vietnamese customers in the near future.
After Porsche announced its official distributor, the market has become more bustling with the appearance of seven big trademarks in Vietnam, such as Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Land Rover, Peugeot and BMW. With the presence of imported models, Vietnamese customers would have more choices, including the foreign made and locally assembled products.
However, not every manufacturer can succeed in Vietnam. Japanese Nissan, the pioneer on the market, has not made any breakthroughs over the last year, since it set foot in the market. Only 100 units have been sold in the last year by Nissan’s three agents, mostly the X-Trail.
Soon after launching, the five-door hatchback Tiida disappeared from the market, and currently, every Nissan’s sales agent could sell only one or two units a month. Analysts said that the problem of Tiida was that it appeared on the market at the time when the segment of five-seat cars began sliding down. Besides, the price of $40,000 proved to be not a good decision, as customers would favour Honda Civics or Toyota Altis, or the imported Toyota Yaris, which has the same price level.
Though Tiida remains unmarketable, Motorcare, the distributor of Nissan’s products in Vietnam, still decided to import Sunny to sell domestically. However, the mid-size sedan model had the same miserable fate as Tiida.
Meanwhile, the Murano crossover, which has been favoured by Vietnamese customers, cannot be found in any Nissan stores. Motorcare’s representative said that Nissan did not bring Murano to Vietnam for fear that the overly high price (approximately $100,000) would keep customers away. However, the reality showed that the thought was not true. An automobile salon in HCM City said that all Muranos were sold soon after they arrived.
Like Nissan, Land Rover has just ‘disposed’ of some units which were imported in last October. In fact, New City, the distributor, could not sell more than it did, as Land Rover is not a well known trademark in Vietnam, while the products are very expensive, ranging between $140,000 to $200,000. Mr Thanh, a staff of New City, said that it is now the experimental period, and whether Land Rover would develop further still depends on the market demand.
Peugeot cars are also rarely seen rolling on roads. Its distributor Thuan Lan could sell 15 units only which were imported in the first consignment. Nguyen Chi Can, Director of Thuan Lan, said that the selling price was higher than expected since customs agencies defined high taxable value of the cars.
The importer plans to import small-size models in September in an effort to maintain its operation. If it is not lucky, it is very likely that Peugeot will have to go away as it once had to do 30 years ago.
While several big names have not succeeded in Vietnam, others seem to be satisfied with their business in Vietnam. Hyundai’s products, distributed by Hyundai Vietnam, for example, are selling well. Making debut in October 2006, some several tens of Santa Fes are being sold every month.
Besides Santa Fe, the small-size Getz is also favoured by Vietnamese people, thought it is sold at $20,000. HMV has been wise enough to ignore five-seat models to focus on crossover and small-size ones, which are the tastes of Vietnamese customers.
HMV’s representative said that it has stopped importing Santa Fes and Getz to focus on 3.5L Veracruz crossover, a luxury model of Hyundai, which has the design not much different from Lexus RX350.
Hyundai has been successful with its sale of imported models as its turnover is always at a high level, while Peugeot is in the danger of having to withdraw from Vietnam as it had to 30 years ago. The coming months will be the time for Porsche and BMW, the two giants that have announced their plans to conquer Vietnam’s market, to show their ability. (Source: Viet Nam Net) |
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