Car registration surges 10-fold with fee cut

A total 11,826 cars were registered Wednesday, compared to around 1,200 a day in the last week of November, according to the General Department of Taxation.

Wednesday was the first day a government decree, which gives locally produced and assembled cars a registration fee discount of 50 percent for six months, came into effect.

The day's figure alone exceeds the total number of registration in August at 8,800 units.

"We are mobilizing all our staff to resolve the surge in demand for registration," a media representative of the taxation department said.

Car dealers have also seen the number of customers triple after the new decree was announced.

This is the second time in the last two years such a cut is being made to mitigate the difficulties faced by the auto industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the first six months last year, 17,600 cars were bought on average each month. In the second half, when the 50 percent cut took effect, sales doubled.

Registration fees are calculated based on car prices in each locality. The rates are 12 percent in Hanoi and Hai Phong, and 10 percent in Ho Chi Minh City.

Last year, car sales had fallen by 8 percent to 296,634 units as the Covid-19 pandemic badly affected the economy, hitting incomes and discretionary spending.