The automaker expects to sell 2,000 cars in Vietnam and export another 500 to ASEAN countries and the Middle East this year.

JRD Motor Industries Vietnam manufactures the automobiles at a facility launched last September by a $100-million joint venture between the Malaysian firm and a local trading company.

The $30 million factory in Phu Yen is designed to turn out 15,000 vehicles a year.

Twenty percent of the parts are made locally, but the number will reach at least 60 percent by the project’s seventh year, according to company plans.

According to  JRD Motor Industries president Jimmy Liew, the group plans to invest an additional $70 million in car making in Phu Yen Province,.

The project will expand the 100 ha Phu Yen facility to 150 ha.

A surge in demand for automobiles is causing a supply shortage and pushing up prices in Vietnam in the first six months.

Sales in the period were up by a whopping 79 percent shot to 28,524.

Auto analysts attributed the growing demand to the introduction of new models and strong buying interest from stock market investors who have made a lot of money in the last year or so.

They forecast demand to remain high until year-end.

The country currently houses 14 automobile joint ventures between foreign and local enterprises with total registered capitals of nearly $800 million and annual output of 170,000 units.

Besides, dozens of local enterprises specialize in producing automobile parts and assembling simple vehicles.

A Transport Ministry report last year said Vietnam, with a population of more than 83 million, had some 700,000 private-owned cars compared with 17 million motorbikes.

Source: VnExpress, Thanh Nien -  Compiled by Dong Ha