The Republic of Korea’s carmaker Hyundai Motor Company on Thursday said it would set up a joint venture (JV) with Vietnamese firm Thanh Cong Group to boost sales in the emerging market, according to news website Yonhap.

On January 23, the two parties signed an initial agreement to establish a sales JV with the goal of selling 100,000 vehicles in Viet Nam by 2020.

The joint venture will help boost sales and expand the service network to meet the increasing demand for automobiles in Viet Nam.

Hyundai’s vehicle sales in 2018 more than doubled to 55,924 units in the key Southeast Asian market compared with a year earlier. It ranked second in the local automobile market with a share of 19.4 per cent after Toyota Motor Corp, the company said.

According to Huyndai statistics, sales of Viet Nam’s automobile sector jumped 27 per cent to 287,949 units last year from 226,120 in the previous year.

In order to achieve the sales goal, Hyundai will increase production to 100,000 vehicles in the second half of 2020 from 60,000. — VNS