Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors plans to expand its Vietnam operations by moving to full-scale production of parts within the country. The company’s CEO Osamu Masuko said at the global launching ceremony of the Mitsubishi Triton pickup truck in Bangkok that sourcing materials in Vietnam would let the company handle more upstream processes for components.
“To be a true winner, we must develop production and exports to certain levels in each country,” Masuko said.
He added that the Vietnamese operations will not simply be limited to assembling modules in a “knock-down kit” production method, referring to the method of manufacturing parts in one country and shipping them to another.
The ASEAN region is the largest and most profitable market for Mitsubishi Motors, the company said in its annual report for fiscal 2017. Sales in the region went up by 33 percent last year to 275,000 units, while revenue from the region jumped 45 percent for the year to 506.2 billion yen ($4.45 billion).
In Vietnam, Mitsubishi currently has an assembly plant in the southern province of Binh Duong with a capacity of 5,000 vehicles per year.
It plans to increase production by having a second plant in the country by 2020, with a capacity of 30,000-50,000 vehicles per year.
In the first nine months this year, a total of 230,958 automobiles were sold in Vietnam, according to Vietnam Customs. This figure could reach 300,000 by the end of this year, it added.