|
Toyota Vietnam begin to raise local content of new cars
Toyota Vietnam announced that it has begun operations at its new chassis production plant in a bid to raise the percentage of local parts in its best-selling Innova car from 33 to 37 percent.
The US$5 million plant is on 2,100 sq.m of land adjacent to its auto plant in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, and will have a production capacity of 21,000 chassis per year, the Japanese-invested automaker said.
“Since the local ancillary industries are still in their infancy, we need to increase the amount of locally-made parts and build our own parts and component plant,” said Toyota Vietnam’s general director Nobuhiko Murakami.
He said that the company plans to increase locally made parts to 50-60 percent as the domestic market will open up in the next few years.
The Vietnamese auto industry, which was established in 1991 with the arrival of the first two foreign-invested plants, Mekong Auto and Vietnam Motor Corporation (VMC), is still in its early stages of development.
The nation’s current 10 foreign-invested auto makers produce vehicles that have only 5 to 20 percent of locally made parts, however, domestic makers have reached a rate of more than 40 percent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Meanwhile, the Government wants automakers to raise the rate of locally made parts to 60 percent by 2010, when total car sales in the country are estimated to reach 150,000 units per year.
The country has about 150 enterprises involved in business activities related to the manufacturing, assembly and repair of automobiles.
According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), 17 leading automakers in Vietnam sold 7,809 vehicles in August, up by 21 percent year-on-year.
VOV
|
