Meanwhile back in Vietnam auto sales soar..

This is from vnagency.
It seems as if price increases are hitting Vietnam even though auto sales are increasing. The Vietnamese stock market is apparently in the doldrums as well. However, there is no news of the sort of protests over declining stock prices of the type that is happening in Pakistan.

April sets another record in auto sales
13/05/2008 -- 12:48 PM
Hanoi (VNA) -- Vietnamese people seemed to be rushing to buy cars before a possible further price hike, as 13,271 units, up 183 percent year on year, were sold last month, breaking the previous month’s record of 13,081 units.The jump was fuelled by outstanding sales of commercial vehicles, which reached 8,185 units, up 248 percent, the Viet Nam Auto Manufacturers Association (VAWA) reported.While the passenger car segment saw a 116 percent boost with 2,221 units, multi-purpose vehicles and sport utility vehicles (MPV/SUV) experienced a 119 percent jump with 2,865 units.On the company’s rankings list, truck and bus manufacturer Vinamotor once again led the line with 3,520 units, accounting for 27 percent of the market share, followed by Toyota and Truong Hai with 2,265 and 2,016 units, respectively, accounting for 17 and 15 percent of the market share.The overall sales of VAWA members in the first four months of the year climbed to 47,366 units, up 181 percent over the corresponding period last year.Meanwhile, the country imported some 12,000 complete built unit (CBU) autos in the first quarter of the year, up 35 percent year-on-year, according to the General Office of Statistics.A number of tariff adjustments were made last month as part of a Government drive to reduce traffic congestion by curbing the mass importation of automobiles into the country, and to reduce the trade deficit.The Ministry of Finance on April 2 raised the import tariff on CBUs from 60 percent to 70 percent and from 70 percent to 83 percent a few days later.While the import tariff on auto parts and components for local assembly was also increased by 3-5 percent, the tariff on used cars was also raised twice this year.The continuous hike of import tariffs on CBUs is believed to have raised not only the price of imported autos, but also the price of locally-assembled autos.As a result, while several car importers have raised their sales prices to cope with the new tariffs, Toyota Viet Nam last week was the first local car assembler to announce a price hike for its fleet, ranging from 100 USD to 700 USD, depending on the models.-