Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese automobile firms can gain a competitiveedge over their rivals in ASEAN if the domestic supporting industry uses more locally-producedparts, heard a conference recently held in Hanoi by the Central Institute forEconomic Management (CIEM).
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said Vietnam has 358 automobile-relatedmanufacturing enterprises, including 50 auto assembly companies and 308 auto partproducers. Thenumber of auto part producers is much lower than in Malaysia and Thailand,which have 385 units and 2,500 units respectively.
The industry produces simple parts such as components for chassis, trunks,cabinets, car doors, tires and tubes, radiators, brake lines, electrical wiresand wheel rims, which have been shipped to Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Laos andthe US.
Vietnam’s exports of automobile components and spare parts hit 3.5 billion USDin 2015. The figure rose to 3.9 billion USD in 2016 and more than 4.4 billionUSD in 2017.
Experts at the conference described difficulty accessing capital as a majorchallenge to small spare part producers, as a car part production line coststens of millions of USD. Meanwhile, preferential policies and supportmechanisms have only been offered in the short-term and lack efficiency.
According to Deputy General Director of Toyota Motor Vietnam Shinjiro Kajikawa,Vietnam’s automobile development depends much on the growth of its supportindustry. Small automobile output and low localisation rate increase carproduction costs.
The cost to producecars in Vietnam is 10-20 percent more than that of imported automobiles fromASEAN countries, he said.
Vietnam should draw up policies to aid the automobile supporting industry,making it more competitive in terms of quality, costs and delivery.-VNA
VNA
