http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/current/business/stories/vietnam.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
HANOI, Vietnam (Reuter) - Automakers Chrysler Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have won initial approval to set up plants in Vietnam, making them the first of Detroit's big three to manufacture in the former communist country, government and company officials said Thursday.
The office of Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet also gave its approval in principle for Japanese automakers Toyota Motors and Isuzu Motors to build plants in the country, the officials said.
The State Committee for Cooperation and Investment was expected to issue licences soon, Chrysler country manager Vance Peacock said.
If all the applications are finally approved, they will boost the number of assembly plants licensed in Vietnam to 11.
Chrysler and Ford will be the first American automakers to set up shop in Vietnam. Their rival, General Motors Corp., has signed an agreement with a local agent to sell and service its Opel cars but is not seeking to manufacture.
Chrysler proposed a $199 million plant to build 17,000 vehicles a year in the south, and Toyota plans a $170 million plant with a capacity of 20,000 vehicles a year.
Ford announced last February it had applied for a licence to build cars and trucks at a $102 million joint venture plant near Hanoi. Details of Isuzu's plant were not known.
Vietnam has given assembly plant licences this year to consortia led by Japan's Daihatsu Corp., Germany's Mercedes-Benz and Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp., and South Korea's Daewoo and Japan's Mitsubishi Motors, with Proton of Malaysia as partners, won licences last year.
They joined Vietnam's two original assemblers -- Vietnam Motors Corp., a joint venture led by Colombian Motors of the Philippines, which assembles Mazda, Kia and BMW cars, and Mekong Corp., a Japanese-South Korean joint venture that makes four-wheel-drive vehicles and assembles Fiat-Iveco trucks and buses.
Industry sources estimate 11,500 cars and commercial vehicles, mostly imported from Japan, were sold in Vietnam last year and 60,000 a year will be needed by 2000.