Vietnam firm to manufacture mini electric vehicles for Chinese brand

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 foreign partner, a joint venture between U.S.-based General Motors (GM) and China’s Saic Motor and Wuling Motors, will provide components to the Vietnamese automaker.

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.

The TMT Motors factory in the northern province of Hung Yen is set to manufacture 30,000 units of the mini vehicle a year and more as TMT Motors is considering other models for production in the cooperation. The firm is expected to announce specifications, prices, and pre-orders of the vehicles in the next quarter.

Founded in 1976, TMT Motors is a leading Vietnamese manufacturer of various trucks of top brands, such as Tata and Sinotruck, with over 100,000 buyers.

The firm, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange as TMT, sold 5,355 trucks in 2022, up 22% year-on-year, according to the firm. It earned a post-tax profit of VND50.28 billion ($2.12 million) on a revenue of VND3,043 billion ($127.81 million) in 2022, up 21.53% and 20.26%, respectively.

GM-(Saic-Wuling) was established in 2022, with General Motors holding a 44% stake, Saic Motors 50.1%, and Wuling 5.9%. The joint venture now operates six manufacturing sites and 14 test centers globally with an investment of $580 million. Its key products are passenger cars, family cars, commercial vehicles, and motors for electric vehicles.

It was the third-biggest electric vehicle seller in the world in 2021 and 2022 with 456,000 and 480,000 units, respectively, according to InsideEVs news website.