Intro: Jose Alvarez, leader of the Philippines Columbian Motors Group which has a local Mazda/Kia assembly plant went scouting for a car plant in Vietnam back in 1989.
Two years later a joint venture with Auto Hoa Binh, a state-owned machine factory and Japan's Nichimen Corporation were brokered to set up Vietnam Motors Corp., the nation's first and largest post-war automaker. Situated on a 6-hectare facility in Ho Chi Minh City, the company CKD assembles BMWs, Mazdas and Kias with a capacity of 20,000 units per annum. |
