Vietnamese high rollers’ splurge on fancy cars gains momentum

With the import of luxury cars rising relentlessly in recent years, auto industry experts hail Viet Nam as a highly promising market for such vehicles.

Auto importers in HCM City said many posh cars costing VND4 billion (US$210,500) were imported every week, of which many were launched just a few months earlier globally. These included the Porche Caynenne S2011, BMW X6, and Mercedes S550.

The General Statistics Office has reported that in the first half alone, 23,000 fully-built autos worth $394 million were imported, most of them luxury brands.

This fact is underscored by the fact that most global upscale auto brands have agents or distributors in Viet Nam.

Laurent Genet, general director of Automotive Asia Company, the main distributor of Audi cars in Viet Nam, told Viet Nam News: “Since Viet Nam joined the World Trade Organisation, the luxury business started to take off. Many luxury brands like Louis Vuiton, Hermes, and Kenzo started operations [here].”

The premium auto market changed drastically, with importers appointed by car manufacturers replacing unofficial importers, he said.

Two years ago BMW appointed Euro Auto, Porsche entered the country with Prestige Sports Car, and Mercedes-Benz began official complete built unit imports, he said.

“We launched Audi in Viet Nam in 2008. For Audi cars, the country is to be treated as a world-class market, especially for luxury vehicles.

“We feel that the luxury car market will continue to expand rapidly in the country, particularly in Ha Noi and HCM City.”

The German car-maker rated Viet Nam’s potential on a par with other developing countries in the region, he said.

He said he was very surprised at Audi sales.

“Sales from January to June tripled in comparison with 2009.”

When the Audi Q5, priced at VND1.84 billion ($96,800), was first introduced, orders came in so quickly that customers had to wait at least three months to get one despite the company diverting 11 vehicles meant for the Philippines to Viet Nam.

In the first five months of this year, sales doubled over the same period last year, according to Tran Tan Trung, general director of Lien A International Joint Stock Company, another Audi dealer.

“Most Audi buyers are very young – between 21 and 35,” he said.

In 2009, Maybach-Motorenbau, a German maker of ultra-luxury autos, manufactured just four limited-edition Maybach 62S cars, including a white vehicle that had a factory price of $500,000. Two of the four were sold in Viet Nam.

The Ferrari 458 Italia, which was launched in July 2009 and costs at least $600,000, is also plying the Vietnamese roads.

At an exhibition on Mercedes cars held in mid-May, visitors had the chance to see the Mercedes SLS Gulling AMG priced at VND8.4 billion ($442,000).

More than 100 contracts to buy Mercedes cars at prices ranging from VND1.4 billion to VND4.4 billion were signed.

Euro Auto and International Lien A revealed they achieved double digit growth even in 2009 at the height of the global economic crisis.