On September 16, Great Wall Motor (GWM) signed a memorandum of cooperation with Thanh An Group JSC (TAG) in Vietnam to cover the CKD assembly of GWM models in the country. Under the agreement, production and sales of these vehicles within Vietnam are expected to commence by the end of 2025.
Shi Qingke, President of Great Wall International; Cui Xiaohui, Vice President; Ruan Guohuan, Chairman of Chengan Group; and other senior executives attended the signing ceremony and exchanged in-depth views on future cooperation visions.
GWM officially entered the Vietnamese market in August 2023. This followed an agreement with TAG covering distribution in the market signed in January 2023. At the time, it was believed that cars would be imported from GWM’s production base in Thailand to Vietnam.
GWM currently has a 10+3+N Model for what it calls its dual wheel drive approach. This encompasses 10 factories in China, three overseas factories, including in Thailand and Mexico, along with multiple knockdown (KD) factories spread around the world.
In January this year, GWM signed a CKD agreement with the Malaysian-listed EP Manufacturing Berhad (EPMB) Group, which was the first within the ASEAN region. Another KD factory is being sited in Indonesia.
Vietnam is the fourth largest automobile market in the ASEAN area. According to MarkLines sales in the Vietnamese market in 2023 were 301,989 units a decrease of 25.4% from the year before.
A number of Chinese car producers are already operating in the Vietnamese market along with some already producing cars there. Notably in May 2023 TMT Motors started selling the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV produced at its factory in Hung Yen province in the north of the country. The first phase of the project involves annual production of 30,000 with the second phase set to increase thus to 60,000.
Previously, it had been claimed that BYD would open a factory in Vietnam, but subsequently, this appears to have been put on hold. Furthermore, the expansion of BYD’s sales network in the country has hit trouble with one of the main dealership partners involved withdrawing from the agreement.
Sources: Autohome, The Investor, Passionate Geekz, GWM, MarkLines,
