The Vietnamese market has no luxury cars for sale

For about a month recently, Trung Kien (33 years old), in Bac Ninh, was looking for a luxury car with a price of about 7 billion VND, but there was nothing to buy. He said that most of the luxury cars referenced by Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus have to wait 3-6 months or even longer.

Scarcity is happening globally because of a serious shortage of components, especially electronic chips. The higher the technology content of vehicles, the less supply there is. The shortage of semiconductors, especially from China because of the impact of the pandemic in the past two years, is the reason for the global shortage of chips.

According to the dealer, luxury cars are currently in short supply because overseas factories give priority to paying orders to major markets such as the US or Europe.

Luxury cars of Mercedes as GLE, GLS nice S-class New customers are waiting for 3 months, more than a year for some versions of Maybach, some models like V-class There is no specific arrival time.

C-class Only imported versions have been sold, while assembled cars are expected to arrive at the beginning of the third quarter to deliver the first batches to customers. The remaining two assembly lines are E-class and GLC In stock, customers wait 1-2 months to receive the car, depending on the number of options and color of the car, the waiting time may be longer.

The agent still accepts deposits from customers, but adds information about the car being out of stock due to a lack of chips, making it difficult to determine the exact delivery date. Vinh Nam, a long-time luxury car sales expert in Ho Chi Minh City, said that customers have gradually gotten used to the current car supply situation. “Their priority now is what car to buy rather than what car to choose, what color,” he added.

BMW waiting X7 from 3-6 months, some models like X3 nice series 5 Also more scarce, there are no colors to choose from, but some versions still have cars for delivery. The German luxury car company has a fairly stable supply despite importing all of it, but about a month ago, the supply was narrower, with fewer colors and versions.

Lexus, a luxury car company in Japan, currently has the longest waiting period, up to nearly a year. The The newly launched LX600 must wait until mid-2023, or like RX wait about 3 months. Some other models still have delivery cars, but depending on the color and version like IS or ES.

With Porsche, Land Rover, Companies selling cars in the form of “option” customers will have a longer waiting time. Previously, the waiting period was 6-9 months, now it can be extended to 12-14 months.

Audi are also waiting for 2-4 months to sign up Q5the remaining samples as Q7, A4… have a delivery vehicle, but depending on the color and version. The lack of chips also causes some cars to return to Vietnam to lack “option” as desired by customers, some can be added later, but some equipment will have to be installed from the beginning.

In addition, some car manufacturers import mid-range brands such as Jeep not much affected due to low sales, the time if ordering a car according to the option still lasts 3-6 months due to importing the US and returning to each lot. In the group of high-end cars of the popular brand, Toyota Land Crusier LC300 also has a waiting period of up to more than a year, and there is no specific delivery schedule.

Having to wait for a long time also makes many customers impatient, the number of car deposits is therefore only about half to two thirds compared to last year, in most airlines, even some dealers actively do not accept orders. customer’s deposit. Besides, non-genuine vehicles are also an option.

Some private importers, taking advantage of the company’s lack of cars, actively brought “hot” models such as Mercedes G63 or GLS, LX600 to serve customers. However, the price has also been pushed up due to higher costs, and the waiting time is also longer than before from 4-6 weeks.

The shortage of components also leads to a disadvantage for customers. In addition to the lack of delivery vehicles, some automakers such as Lexus, Mercedes increased their selling prices, BMW cut promotions, and even some brands of cars were priced from 200-500 million. Toyota Land Crusier LC300 was hit by the peak price channel of up to VND 1.5 billion for spot rate.

The shortage of goods occurs not only in imported luxury cars but also in assembled and imported popular cars. Domestic car assemblers such as Hyundai, Thaco, and VinFast are all lacking components. Customers buying cars from Toyota, Hyundai, and Ford are currently facing a situation of “beer with peanuts” with a cash price difference or have to buy additional accessories costing hundreds of millions of dong. Most companies are unable to comment on when the supply will be stable again.

Doan Dung – Thanh Nhan