Largest Chinese Carmaker Eyes Investment JV in Vietnam
China’s largest carmaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC Motor) has said that it wanted to set up an auto joint venture in Vietnam, Dau Tu Newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Planning & Investment, said.
SAIC Motor is conducting a location survey for the possible joint venture factory, it said.
The Chinese carmaker hopes the joint venture size will be $50 million worth in investment capital.
However, SAIC will face difficulties in Vietnam as the local people always consider Chinese vehicles inferior in quality and design, an automotive expert in Hanoi said.
Apart from SAIC, another Chinese firm is completing investment applications for the construction of a heavy truck and tractor factory in northern Haiphong City.
According to Vietnam’s commitments to the WTO admission, China can set up a limited number of wholly invested auto production plants in Vietnam.
The downsizing Vietnamese car market currently has 13 operational foreign-led automakers, including Toyota, Ford, Honda, Mitsubishi, GM-Daewoo, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hino and JRD.
According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), foreign-led carmakers and five Vietnamese-invested backbone automakers produced 30,934 units in the first 10 months of this year, down 3 per cent on year.
Investment
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