Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- South Korea's Hyundai auto group agreed with its Vietnamese partner, Thanh Cong Group, to set up a sales joint venture and boost production in one of Southeast Asia's fast-growing auto markets.

Hyundai said Thursday that at its head office in Seoul, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Vietnamese group in a ceremony attended by Thanh Cong's chairman Nguyen Anh Tuan. The two companies run a joint venture car factory called Hyundai Thanh Cong Manufacturing Vietnam (HTMV).

The new agreement is aimed at establishing a strong sales and service network to respond quickly to market demands in Vietnam, Hyundai said, adding HTMV would expand facilities to produce some 100,000 units in the second half of 2020. The complete knock down (CKD) factory with a capacity of 60,000 units assembles parts into finished vehicles.

Hyundai sold 55,000 vehicles last year in Vietnam with its market share standing at 19.4 percent after Japan's Toyota. The Vietnamese group also set up a commercial vehicle joint venture in 2017 with Hyundai in the northern province of Ninh Binh.