Truong Hai Auto Joint Stock Company (Thaco) looks to attain more than VND44.3 trillion (some US$2 billion) from selling 70,346 vehicles this year, buoyed by strong revenue growth in the first four months.
At a recent general meeting, Thaco shareholders approved the enterprise’s sales target of 34,200 passenger cars and over 36,000 commercial vehicles this year, up 67% and 68% year-on-year respectively.
The target is higher than that of Toyota Vietnam, which had been the biggest auto seller in the country before being overtaken by Thaco last year. The Japanese-invested firm expects to obtain record sales of 46,000 units this year, up 13% versus 2014.
Tran Ba Duong, chairman of Thaco, said the company has drawn up this year’s sales target based on the nation’s economic growth and sales expansion last year and in the first months of this year.
Duong said Thaco led the local auto market last year when it sold some 42,000 units, growing 49% against 2013 and accounting for 32% of the market share held by VAMA’s member companies.
Thaco continued to consolidate its leading position in the year to March with more than 14,300 cars sold or 36% of the market share of VAMA’s members.
Thaco looks to sales of 100,000 units in 2018 as it is pinning high hopes that the local market will grow 10-15% a year in the coming years.
Despite a 0% tax rate for auto imports from other ASEAN markets in 2018, the company will invest more in research and development and modern technology to manufacture auto parts to increase its local content so as to lower its car prices by 15-20% in the next three years.
Thaco chose 2015 as the first year to implement its three-year development strategy which also includes establishment of auto parts production facilities. The company plans a combined investment of VND927.4 billion in production expansion this year, rising by 54% year-on-year.
Thaco earned after-tax profit of over VND1.46 trillion on revenue of more than VND8.61 trillion in the first quarter of this year. The after-tax profit target for this year is VND5.83 trillion, or 78% higher than that of 2014.
This year, it plans to spend more than VND2.2 trillion opening an additional 46 showrooms to bring the total to 118 and 67 agents nationwide. It will launch new passenger and commercial car models, including Kia Morning F/L, Kia Sedona and Mazda 2 All New.