Skodas are heading to Vietnam. The brand wants to start assembly at the local factory in two years

The car company Mladoboleslav is expanding into the Vietnamese market. Starting next year it will start selling cars imported from the Czech Republic and in the first half of 2024 it will start production at the newly built plant of the partner company Thanh Cong Motor Vietnam in the province of Quang Ninh, in the north of the country.

The models currently produced in India will be assembled on the line, the Kushaq SUV and later the Slavia sedan. They will be shipped from India in the form of CKD (Completely Knocked Down). On an area of ​​16,000 square meters, a plant for the production of the related subassemblies that will be exported to Vietnam is currently under construction at the Indian plant in Pune.

“For Škoda Auto, entering the Vietnamese market is the next logical step in our internationalization strategy. Our attractive model portfolio offers customers the right products, thanks to which we will be able to use our strengths in this. highly dynamic market, “said the carmaker’s chairman of the board in a press release, Klaus Zellmer.

The Kodiaq, Karoq, Superb and Octavia models will start shipping to Vietnam from Europe next year, and the Enyaq electric car is expected to be sold after 2025. Electric cars have potential on the Vietnamese market, the automaker says. 2040, up to 3.5 million electric cars.

Škoda Auto would like to sell 30,000 cars a year in Vietnam, with the fact that sales could be even higher than another 10,000 cars. It deals with the development of the sales network. The cars will be sold in Vietnam through local partners. The first partner locations are expected in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, both of which account for the vast majority of new car sales in Vietnam. More than fifty dealerships are expected to go into operation very soon in Vietnam.

Last year, just over 300,000 vehicles were sold in the country, according to statistics from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA). The best-selling brand for 2021 was Hyundai, followed by Kia, Toyota in third place and VinFast, a young national car brand focused on premium cars, rose to fourth. On the contrary, this year it is entering several European countries and the US and plans to build an electric car manufacturing plant in the United States.