Vietnam is estimated to have spent US$2.943 billion importing cars and auto components this year, soaring 2.6% against last year, the government’s General Statistics Office (GSO) reports.

Automobile manufacturers have announced price increases once the value added tax (VAT) returns to normal at 10 percent as of January 1, 2010, instead of five percent as applied in 2009.

Domestic industry accused of faking shortage for higher margins. Hoang Van Minh has been seeking to buy a new car at dealerships around Hanoi for days without any success.

Car imports made a record $1.17 billion in 2009, notable because it comes in a year of economic downturn.

On 28th December 2009, BigBigTrans, a member of Uni-Bros. contracted with AIA (Vietnam) Life Insurance Co. Ltd. to provide long term Innova car rental service on monthly basis.

HCM City-based Tanamexco, which imported cars worth one million dollars five months ago, now finds itself unable to get cars through customs because it cannot submit the requisite paperwork.

Japan’s Subaru cars, well known for their all-wheel drive technology, are being introduced to the local market by its official distributor Motor Image Vietnam.

The domestic car market has hit a lull because no one wants to purchase cars just several days before tax incentives finish on December 31.

15 years ago when Vietnamese automobile assembly companies started operation, many people hoped that Vietnam would have their automobile industry in 10-15 years. However, the latest survey at some carmakers showed that the majority of them are operating with backward production lines and the industry's domestication ratio remained very low.

The car leasing market is growing ahead of the 2010 New Year as Vietnamese families look to lease cars for holiday travel.