In early 2020, Thaco, a 100 percent Vietnamese automobile manufacturer, exported 40 Kia Grand Carnivals to Thailand, the leading automobile center in the region.

This showed that automobiles assembled in Vietnam have high quality and compete equally with other big manufacturers in the region – Thailand and Indonesia.

Thaco’s export consignments can meet the quality requirements of Kia global with the localiation ratio of 40 percent, which meets the RVC (regional value content) to be eligible for the preferential tariff of zero percent.

The export of the first consignment of products to Thailand is the first step taken by Thaco in implementing its plan to export 1,600 cars of different kinds worth $50 million in 2020.

Meanwhile, VinFast, another Vietnamese automobile brand, is quietly penetrating the Australian market. Motoring reported that in late 2019, VinFast set up a technological center in Melbourne.

Sources said VinFast plans to take over Holden, the automobile assembling line of General Motors. If the M&A deal succeeds, VinFast would have opportunities to access the choosy Australian market and make a big leap in the path to become a global brand.

Sources said VinFast plans to take over Holden, the automobile assembling line of General Motors. If the M&A deal succeeds, VinFast would have opportunities to access the choosy Australian market and make a big leap in the path to become a global brand.

Pham Nhat Vuong, president of Vingroup, the holding company of VinFast, during a Bloomberg interview recently, said VinFast plans to export electric cars to the US in 2021 and the group is willing to spend $2 billion to reach that goal.

“Our ultimate goal is creating a global brand. This is a thorny path and we will have to make great efforts to reach that end. But there is only one path ahead,” he said.

In early February 2020, Bach Viet Automobile Industry Manufacturing kicked off the project on manufacturing and assembling cars, capitalized at VND2.655 trillion in Chan May – Lang Co Economic Zone.

Once operational, the factory would have the capacity of manufacturing and assembling 100,000 cars a year with up to 9 seats, which meet Euro 5 emission standards.

Meanwhile, Ford has recently decided to invest $82 million more to increase the assembling capacity in Vietnam.

An analyst said Vietnam is on the way to become an automobile manufacturing center.

“OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) from the US, Japan, South Korea and China show their interest in Vietnamese manufacturers. It is a good time for the automobile manufacturing industry to develop,” he said.

Under the Prime Minister’s Decision No 1211, the localization ratos of cars with less than nine seats would be 30-40 percent by 2020. The figures would be 40-50 percent by 2025 and 55-60 percent by 2030.

Linh Ha 

Inconsistent policies burden VN automobile industry

Car sales dropped sharply by 40 percent in Q1 2020 as several industries cannot reach agreement on solutions to develop the automobile industry.

With tax and fee decreases, automobiles will be cheaper than ever

If the government agrees to slash taxes and fees for domestically assembled cars, this will be a ‘doping dose’ for domestic automobile manufacturers and consumers.