The Ministry of Industry and Trade expects car imports to increase sharply. — Photo vietnamfinance.vn

Viet Nam imported 109,000 cars in the first nine months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 167.8 per cent, reported the General Department of Viet Nam Customs.

The value increased by 157 per cent from January to September, reaching US$2.4 billion.

In September alone, a total of 13,000 cars were imported with a total value of $260 million, up 38.1 per cent in volume and 24.4 per cent in value compared to the previous month, respectively.

According to the department, the cars mainly originated from Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, China and Germany, accounting for 97 per cent of the total.

As a result, domestic automobile production and assembly has levelled off. In 2017, the assembly output was 258,733 units, while in 2018 it fell to 258,116. In the first half of 2019, the number of assembled cars reached 131,089 vehicles.

Cars imported from ASEAN were tax exempt, meaning more support was needed for the domestic market, said the MoIT.

The ministry also said it would control the quality of imported cars. — VNS