Chinese automobile businesses flock to Vietnam

The trend of Chinese automobile businesses flocking to Vietnam has been reinforced by Haima returning to Vietnam later this year with both gasoline and electric vehicles, distributed by local sales platform Carvivu.

Per an agreement between Haima and Carvivu announced Tuesday, gasoline vehicles Haima SUV 8S and Haima MPV 7X and electric vehicle Haima 7X-E are set to be delivered to Vietnam next month and ready for sale in the second half of this year at the earliest.

Haima once sold its vehicles, namely Haima2, Haima3, Haima7, and Haima Preema in Vietnam in 2011 but then withdrew from the market due to weak performance.

Founded in 1988, Haima has reached an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles and 150,000 motors and has exported its products to over 20 nations like Egypt, Chile, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The move remarked the trend of Chinese automobile brands entering Vietnam recently.

In March 2021, Ora White Cat, an electric vehicle brand under China’s Great Wall Motors, registered for protection of industrial design of one model with Vietnamese authorities.

Great Wall Motors in 2022 conducted similar moves for its King Kong Cannon pick-up truck and Shalong Mecha Dragon coupe.

Hongqi, a luxury brand, debuted two models H9 and E-HS9 in Vietnam in January 2022. The brand is well-known as the “Chinese Rolls Royce” and used by President Xi Jinping.

FAW Group Corporation, among the biggest automobile manufacturers in China, signed a deal with Vietnam’s Long Giang Energy & Investment JSC in January 2021, with the latter becoming the official and exclusive distributor of the former’s truck tractors in Vietnam.

China’s Chery Automobile Company Limited plans to build a factory in Vietnam to sell cars in the Southeast Asian country, an executive told local media in September 2022.

Vietnam has proved its rising status as a manufacturing base for BYD, dubbed China’s Tesla, with the Chinese giant planning to build a car parts plant in the country for supply chain diversification, with investment of about $250 million, Reuters reported last month.

Earlier this month, Vietnam’s TMT Motors signed a deal with the GM-(Saic-Wuling) joint venture to exclusively manufacture, assemble, and distribute Wuling mini electric vehicles in the Southeast Asian nation, TMT Motors announced last Saturday.

The first product is the Wulung HongGuang MiniEV, the best-selling mini electric vehicle in the world in 2020-2022, according to automotive market researcher Jato Dynamics.