South East Asian Automotive News

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation has announced that it will begin making sport utility vehicles in Vietnam for the Asian market in April. The company aims to produce 300 of the 2,000cc vehicles in the first year. Automobile sales in Vietnam remain low. Mitsubishi’s US$50m assembly JV with Proton and local partner Viettransimex accounted for only 620 of the 20,000 vehicles sold in Vietnam last year. (March 8^th 1998)

Inchcape Motors has decided to sell its stake in its auto distribution JV, Inchcape Saigon Motors Corp. The decision to sell its 63.5% stake in the US$1.6m venture is pending approval from local authorities. The venture was established in 1994 to distribute imported vehicles. With 14 auto-manufacturers licensed to assemble and distribute cars locally, the company saw limited market potential. (April 1^st 1998)

Japan’s Yamaha Motor Co. has received a license to assemble motorcycles in Vietnam. Yamaha has formed a US$24m JV with a Malaysian partner, Hong Leong Industries, and two Vietnamese state-owned companies. Yamaha holds a 46% stake in the JV which plans to produce 8,000 units a year of 100cc and 110cc motorbikes beginning in mid-1999. Yamaha officials said they expect to be producing 100,000 units a year by 2005. (April 1^st 1998)