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Why do Vietnamese still purchase locally-made cars?
Why do Vietnamese continue to purchase domestic vehicles though the number of complaints they voice is increasing? Answer: Because locally-made cars have lower sale prices than imports.
A poll organised by Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam yielded the answer.
The poll was launched on April 13 with the question “Why did you purchase locally-made cars?” and gave eight options for answers. By 10.30 am of May 13, the editorial board had received 2,635 answers.
1,326 readers (50%) said they purchased domestically-made cars because ‘the prices of the cars are lower than imports’ prices’. 140 readers (5%) said that with domestically-made cars, they feel more secure with post-sales services.
227 readers (9%) preferred domestically-made cars because they can repair and replace car parts more easily and cheaply. 62 readers (2%) explained that if they purchase domestically-assembled cars, they can easily contact manufacturers if there are any problems. Meanwhile, 115 readers (4%) believe that locally-made cars have functions changed to fit the conditions in Vietnam, and 123 readers (5%) said that many models prove to have quality as high as the quality of import products. 294 readers (12%) chose other options.
Sale price the most important factor
Though expecting that many people purchase domestically-made cars because of the lower sale prices, the high percentage of readers (1,326, or 50%) choosing the sale price option was still a surprise to many people.
The result, once again, confirms that in Vietnam’s market, sale price is always the most important factor in consumers’ decisions.
That explains why Vietnamese customers, though favouring import cars, still purchase domestically-made products. It is clear that import products have better quality and better designs than domestic ones, but the factors still cannot help make the products become the choice of the majority of car customers, because they have overly high sale prices.
Domestic automobile manufacturers, who well understand their advantages, have been using the advantages to boost sales.
In early 2009, Vidamco launched onto the market a diesel engine version of the Chevrolet Captiva but it did not announce the sale price. Analysts said that Vidamco did not announce the sale price at the launching because the Toyota Fortuner, the direct rival of Chevrolet Captiva, was also going to be launched onto the market
Only at the end of February, when Toyota launched its Fortuner, did Vidamco announce the sale price for Chevrolet Captiva, which was not much different than the prices of the two direct rivals.
It was quite a surprise that 13% of readers (348) purchase domestically-made cars because they want to support the local automobile industry (this was the second-most chosen option after sale price).
Experts say that the support of domestic consumers proves to be a very big advantage for the development of the automobile industry.
In the last 50 years, South Korea’s automobile industry has made a big jump to the 5th position on the world’s automobile map. And a very important reason is the movement of using locally-made products by South Korean consumers. From early 1960, when the South Korean automobile industry began taking shape, to now, South Korean people still choose South Korea-made cars.
VietNamNet, TBKTVN
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