A new assembly plant for the Czech Republic’s Skoda vehicles is set to go into operation later this year in northern Vietnam, The Investor is reporting. The plant in Quang Ninh province is 90 percent complete, according to the firm, and began a trial run back in May. Set on 36.5 hectares the factory will add a capacity of 120,000 vehicles a year to Vietnam’s automotive industry.
Of note, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association August sales report found that vehicle sales of the group’s members had fallen about 6 percent year-on-year. It does, however, not cover all of the major brands in Vietnam. Also, conversely, there has been a rise in car imports, particularly from China and Indonesia.
That said, it’s not clear all of those cars will be for domestic consumption which is only around 300,000 units a year. Notably, under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement cars exported and imported within the bloc can do so tariff free and with this in mind it may be that the bulk of these vehicles are shipped abroad.
See also: What’s Going On with Vietnam’s Car Market in 2024?