Free Trade Agreement with EU

THIGV wrote:

Does anyone know if the newly announced agreement between Vietnam and the EU will eliminate or at least reduce the duty on automobiles?  If so it could give a substantial edge to European brands over American or Asian imports.

I doubt it will make much difference as the most popular vehicles here are Japanese and Korean.

colinoscapee wrote:

I doubt it will make much difference as the most popular vehicles here are Japanese and Korean.

True.  Of course if they had an edge from lower tariffs, the dealerships would have to pass the savings on as well.  I lived not far from the Mercedes plant north of TSN and the cars still cost more than they did in the US (and the US cars are imported from Germany.)  If they had no tariffs on locally made cars, It would seem they were using the tariffs on the competition to just give themselves a larger margin.

THIGV wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

I doubt it will make much difference as the most popular vehicles here are Japanese and Korean.

True.  Of course if they had an edge from lower tariffs, the dealerships would have to pass the savings on as well.  I lived not far from the Mercedes plant north of TSN and the cars still cost more than they did in the US (and the US cars are imported from Germany.)  If they had no tariffs on locally made cars, It would seem they were using the tariffs on the competition to just give themselves a larger margin.

Vietnamese, like Thais, love Toyotas. Mercedes may get a leg up from the trade deal, but they are still way out of reach for the average local. Let's not forget that Vinfast will be producing local made cars soon.

Toyota > Merc any day, I'm on my fifth Toyota Tacoma in the USA . Bosch electronic stuff , which has a tendency to fail, sounds like a nightmare $$$ getting repaired in vietnam. But to each his own. Perhaps the rapidly growing upper middle class will see euro cars as status symbols. Heck my neighbor has a Maybach. I see cars for what they are, terrible investments, thus the tacomas, best resale of any vehicle made 10 years running now.

THIGV wrote:

Does anyone know if the newly announced agreement between Vietnam and the EU will eliminate or at least reduce the duty on automobiles?  If so it could give a substantial edge to European brands over American or Asian imports.

Ah I understand, you refer to the tax implications of importing a vehicle from USA or euro, post deal
  oops

TubbsFugee wrote:

Toyota > Merc any day, I'm on my fifth Toyota Tacoma in the USA . Bosch electronic stuff , which has a tendency to fail, sounds like a nightmare $$$ getting repaired in vietnam. But to each his own. Perhaps the rapidly growing upper middle class will see euro cars as status symbols. Heck my neighbor has a Maybach. I see cars for what they are, terrible investments, thus the tacomas, best resale of any vehicle made 10 years running now.

In Vietnam cars depreciate very little. A 25 year old Toyota Camry here still pulls in 6k, same car in my country is about 1k.

A new base model Corolla cost about $39,500 in VN and a similar base model in the US will cost less that $19,000.

Maybe part of the reason the government tax automobiles so much is because the streets are small and more cars will mean worse traffic in major cities and also during rush hours. Also a majority of houses have no place to park cars. Apartment buildings/businesses do not have garages for cars,...

qnbui wrote:

Maybe part of the reason the government tax automobiles so much is because the streets are small and more cars will mean worse traffic.....

I rather suspect that the reason the government taxes automobiles heavily is because, as Willy Sutton said about why he robbed banks, "that's where the money is."

THIGV wrote:

Of course if they had an edge from lower tariffs, the dealerships would have to pass the savings on as well.

Why pass on savings? Aren't the dealers monopolies? In Saigon, Head runs all the Honda motorbike dealers, Yamaha Town owns all the Yamaha dealers. Not the same for cars?

Wait - as I understand, there are dealers that sell multiple brands, but they aren't official dealers, and the prices are almost the same w/o factory warranty.

gobot wrote:

THIGV wrote:

Of course if they had an edge from lower tariffs, the dealerships would have to pass the savings on as well.

Why pass on savings? Aren't the dealers monopolies? In Saigon, Head runs all the Honda motorbike dealers, Yamaha Town owns all the Yamaha dealers. Not the same for cars?

Wait - as I understand, there are dealers that sell multiple brands, but they aren't official dealers, and the prices are almost the same w/o factory warranty.

I think you will find that all the Honda shops are not owned by one company, but are dealerships owned by separate small companies. There is one company that has the rights to sell Honda in VN, they then sell to the private dealerships.