Vinamotor Plans First Sedan Assembly Late 2005

The Vietnam Motors Industry Corporation (Vinamotor) will manufacture sedans in the Dong Vang Automobile Industrial Complex in northern Bac Giang province by the end of this year, chairman of Vinamotor Management Board Nguyen Van Khoa said.

Vinamotor will make sedans from four to nine seats under the technology of South Korea’s Hyundai Group.

“This will be the first time a Vietnamese company assembles sedan,” Khoa said.

Khoa said the launching of the Vinamotor sedans will bring competitive pressures upon car prices in Vietnam, which are currently considered the world highest.

According to local media, Vinamotor injects VND3,000 billion (USUS$190 million) in the Dong Vang Automobile Industrial Complex.

Besides Dong Vang, Vinamotor is completing the construction of other auto complexes in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho City, Hung Yen province, Nghe An province, Nam Dinh province and Thua Thien-Hue province.

The State-run Vinamotor has set targets to manufacture 17,000 automobiles this year, up from nearly 8,000 units, all buses and trucks, in 2004.

Vinamotor expects a VND7,118 billion (USUS$453.37 million) output value and a VND VND6,018 billion (USUS$383.31 million) revenue in 2005.

Last year, Vinamotor hit a total output value of VND5,065 billion (USUS$322 million), up 44.26 per cent over 2003.

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