Mitsubishi Motors to invest $250 million in second factory in Vietnam
Mitsubishi Motors will invest $250 million to build its second automobile assembly facility in the country to expand production. The facility is expected to come into operation in 2020.
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This was announced by Kozo Shiraji, Mitsubishi Motors’ executive vice president, at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue on January 15.
According to Shiraji, Vietnam is considered an important production hub as well as a potential consumption market for Mitsubishi Motors due to the young and increasingly skilled human resources.
The second assembly facility has a designed capacity of 30,000-50,000 vehicles per year. The group plans to build the facility in an industrial park or economic zone which is near large-scale seaports having the capacity to transport large volumes of goods to both domestic and overseas destinations.
Along with the second automobile assembly facility, Mitsubishi Motors signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the representative of the Vietnamese government under which they plan to explore the best way to promote the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country.
Accordingly, Mitsubishi Motors will work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to conduct a joint study of efficient EV usage as well as compile public policy programmes and incentives that could support the accelerated adoption of sustainable automotive technology.
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| Mitsubishi Motors delivering an outlander PHEV and a quick battery charger to MoIT |
Kozo Shiraji said, “We are very pleased to be able to work with the Vietnamese government to embrace cleaner automotive fuels. We look forward to sharing Mitsubishi Motors’ pioneering expertise in electric vehicles and exploring how government policy can support the adoption of this transformative technology.”
“This important initiative demonstrates Mitsubishi Motors’ strong commitment to accelerating the adoption of sustainable automotive technologies across rapidly developing markets such as Vietnam,” he added.
Vietnam is seeking ways to reduce CO2 emissions and to produce cleaner air and promote greener cities. Mitsubishi Motors is considering another joint EV study in other cities in Vietnam as a test bed for environmentally-conscious policies. Since Mitsubishi Motors first entered Vietnam, the company has been committed to the development of the domestic automobile market, and this MoU represents the latest important milestone.
In 2016, Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam (MMV) was officially renamed from Vina Star Motors (VSM), after an ownership structure change in the joint venture. The joint venture said that Mitsubishi’s member companies have increased their ownership from 50 to 82 per cent.
Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam, which is the distributor of Mitsubishi Motors’ vehicles in Vietnam, was established in 1994 by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and Mitsubishi Trading Company, Malaysia’s Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Berhad, and Vietnam’s Transport Investment Co-operation and Import and Export JSC, marking one of the first automobile joint ventures in this market.
The joint venture headquartered in the southern province of Binh Duong’s Di An Town stated on its website that it has investment capital of over VND365.4 billion ($16.38 million) and a factory with an annual capacity of 5,000 vehicles.
Source: VIR
