While high prices put cars out of reach for the majority of Vietnamese, the emergence of low-cost “city cars” could soon make the four-wheeled dream a reality for the masses.
Related Articles:
- [Infographic] Cars Prices In Vietnam Compared To Its Neighbors
- Vietnamese Car Sales Skyrocketing In 2015
- How Saigon Plans to Avoid the 'Car Age'
Last week, India’s Tata Motors signed a deal with local TMT Motors Corporation to manufacture the Nano, one of the most affordable production cars in the world with a US$2,500 – US$5,000 price tag, reports Thanh Nien.
Though it’s yet to be decided whether the cars will be built in Vietnam or imported, even with hefty tariffs, the price point would make them financially accessible to many Vietnamese, “given that it would be only slightly higher than an Italian SH motorbike,” wrote the paper.
For those who consider cars the cause of increasingly worse traffic in Vietnam (which they undoubtedly are) this news will probably draw mixed feelings.
On one hand, the car age wasn’t supposed to truly arrive until 2018 when taxes on cars imported from ASEAN nations drops to zero under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). Conversely, these cars are about as tiny as they get, leaving a relatively small physical and environmental footprint compared to the larger cars on Vietnam’s roads.
Either way, the days of saving up for 26 years to buy a car won’t be around much longer.
