HANOI, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has imported 528,200 completely-built automobiles totaling nearly 11.7 billion U.S. dollars in the 2011-2017 period, including 236,520 under-nine-seat cars worth roughly 3.1 billion U.S. dollars, the General Department of Vietnam Customs said on Wednesday.

Over the past seven years, Vietnam has imported cars mainly from India, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea.

Thailand and Indonesia are exporting more and more cars to Vietnam because of the elimination of tariffs on completely-built units from Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) member countries in January, local experts said, adding that Vietnam also lowered tax rates on vehicles with engine sizes of 2.0 liters or less.

The local content rates of automobiles made in Thailand and Indonesia are now over 80 percent and 60-70 percent, respectively, while those in Vietnam are 7-10 percent, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In the first four months of this year, Vietnam imported completely-built automobiles such as cars, trucks and buses, and components for assembly totaling nearly 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, down 32.2 percent on-year.