(Dan Tri) – Over the years, car companies from the country of billions of people have always sought to gain a foothold in the Vietnamese market.
2005-2012 was the period when Chinese cars strongly approached the Vietnamese market, with many car models including assembled and imported.
At a time when the Vietnamese auto industry was still in its infancy, car manufacturers often found a joint venture for assembly.
Market penetration
In 2006, Lifan 520 appeared, marking the first Chinese passenger car model assembled in Vietnam.
The Lifan 520 prototype appeared in Vietnam (Photo: Lifan).
Previously, many consumers expected a cheap car model when Lifan announced that it would produce a car that would sell for $5,000.
Since 2009, Korean car models have flooded the market with eye-catching designs and many equipment.
Therefore, Lifan 520 fell into oblivion due to its bad appearance and lack of updated equipment and technology.
The Brilliance V7 model has created many opinions in the car community (Photo: HC).
Next, Chery QQ3 in 2009, Geely 2012… penetrated the market.
In the period after 2015, Chinese cars returned to the market stronger with many new names and diverse equipment.
This importer has brought in Zotye, Brilliant V7, Baic X35, X55, Beijing
Beijing X7 model launched in China (Photo: Baic).
Business people’s opinion
`In fact, there are many Chinese automobile enterprises that want to enter the Vietnamese market, but they all have difficulty in self-investing or joint ventures with domestic enterprises,` said Mr. Tran Minh Thao, an expert supporting the assembly.
Most Chinese auto brands choose a safe solution, which is to find a joint venture company in Vietnam to transfer technology and production lines.
The reason this option was chosen is because the Vietnamese car market is in the group of rapid growth in sales, but is in a position of creating segments and customer groups, and it will be more difficult to position products.
In addition, VinFast’s participation in the electric vehicle group shows that the speed of shifting engine options will happen faster with pushes from the mechanism.
Recently, Geleximco Group signed a land lease agreement to produce cars.
This is the way Geleximco has done when taking on the role of a supplier of automobile and motorbike components.
Cherry representative said that the company is oriented to Vietnam, assessing this as a young market with a lot of potential.
Expert perspective
According to Dr. Khuong Quang Dong, who has more than 35 years working in the auto industry, in recent years, Chinese cars have been highly appreciated by many foreign experts.
Technology indicators for vehicles and supporting industries in China have also made great progress, due to large market demand.
He gave an example: MG is a British car company, but owned by a Chinese company.
Looking at 2021 sales in China.
That is evidenced by the fact that the 9 best-selling car brands in China are all names from joint venture enterprises.
The future of Chinese cars in Vietnam
Mr. Thao believes that no matter how Chinese cars enter the Vietnamese market, consumers will benefit the most.
For example, Chinese motorbikes entering Vietnam, although not making much of an impression in terms of products, have helped the domestic motorbike price level decrease thanks to the competition caused by the appearance of more cheap products.
The car model Mr. Thao cherished with his own brand instead of assembling for foreign countries (Photo: Minh Thao).
In addition, according to Mr. Thao, the Chinese automobile industry has progressed very far compared to 10 years ago.
In some large markets in the region such as Indonesia or Thailand, Chinese cars have also had a good approach.
Mr. Thao’s business also hopes that Vietnam will gradually have many businesses with their own products to serve the market.
As for Dr. Dong, he believes that Chinese cars will have a place in Vietnam if there are `cheap car` products that meet the market’s expectations more than 15 years ago.
