Mercedes-Benz Vietnam Company Limited (Vietnam)

The subject is operating in the field of assembling and trading types of cars in the Vietnam market, including 5-seat tourist cars, 16-seat mini-buses, inner-city buses, and tourist buses.Components are mostly imported from the group and then assembled in Vietnam. Besides, the subject exploits the service of buying and selling used cars and provides financial services, monthly installments to encourage customers to buy cars.The birth of the VINFAST brand of VINGROUP, a new player, makes it difficult to maintain the market share of the subject. Besides, imported cars from Europe will be completely exempted from import tax under the roadmap of Vietnam- EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). Consumers are expecting next time the price of cars imported from Europe will decline rapidly.When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in the early 2020 period, the company had to suspend production until Apr 22, the gloomy automotive consumption caused great damage to the automobile industry. Although the exact information was not disclosed, we guess that the company faced many difficulties.To overcome difficulties after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister recently signed a decision to reduce some types of fee taxes. Accordingly, the preferential import tax rate of 0% for materials, supplies and components; 50% reduction of the registration fee for locally assembled cars. In addition, the Government allows the extension of the time limit for special consumption tax payment for locally assembled cars for amounts payable from Mar 2020, the extension is no later than Dec 31, 2020. These things will have a positive impact on the Vietnamese car market including the subject's car brand.