Eight automobile and mechanical firms plan to set up a "automobile board" in order to protect domestic producers in anticipation of 2015 tax cuts on imported vehicles.

The board will be set up under the Vietnam Association of Mechanism Industry (VAMI).

The firms include the Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM), Vietnam Motors Industry Corporation (Vinamotor), Saigon Transportation Mechanical Corporation (SAMCO), Truong Hai Auto Corporation, Vinaxuki Automobile Company, Factory Z179, the General Department of Defence Industry under the Ministry of National Defence and MDC Centre.

This is the first time domestic mechanical, producing and assembling car firms will work together to build a development plan for the sector, vice chairman of the Vietnam Mechanical Engineering Association Dao Phan Long told online newspaper vnexpress.net.

The companies will focus on developing their own strengths, with those that cannot produce car spare parts, devices and components transferring the work to mechanical firms.

The Finance Ministry issued an order last week amending the vehicle import tariff in keeping with Vietnam's commitment to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Under the order, the duty on passenger cars will be cut from 67 to 64 percent. This category includes station wagons, sport cars and motor homes as well as cars with less than 10 seats and an engine capacity of less than 2.5 litres.

Meanwhile, the duty on four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicles will be reduced from 70 to 59 percent, while the import tariff on trucks with a loading capacity of less than five tonnes will be reduced from 59 to 56 percent. The tariff on motorcycles, sidecars and mopeds will be reduced from 47 to 40 percent.

The value of imported cars in the first 11 months reached 1.23 billion USD, a 100.7 percent year-on-year increase, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).-VNA