Vietnamese conglomerate THACO, also a leading automaker in the country, has delivered to Thailand another 80 Kia Grand Carnival cars that were manufactured at its Thaco Kia plant at the THACO Chu Lai Industrial Park in Quang Nam Province.

It is the second batch of passenger cars that THACO has exported to Thailand, Southeast Asia’s biggest auto hub, this year through Yontrakit Kia Motor Co., Ltd. The first consignment of 40 ones was delivered in February.

As planned, Yontrakit will buy a total of 560 Grand Kia Carnivals this year.

In February this year THACO had shipped to Thailand 40 of the same cars through the company.

This is a “going upstream” story because most passenger cars Vietnam imports are from Thailand.

The Kia Grand Carnival (known as the Kia Sedona in the Vietnamese market) is equipped with modern features, a spacious interior with 11 seats in four rows, and right-hand drive to meet Thai traffic laws.

Yontrakit Kia Motor Co., Ltd said the import from Vietnam is a fuel-efficient product line, its design suits customers' tastes and its price is more competitive than that of imports from Korea.

THACO has ensured the products meet Kia Motors’ global quality standards and delivery times.

Implementing a strategy of increasing penetration into the global value chain, along with efforts to research and develop products and expand its markets over the past years, THACO has exported buses, trucks, cars, and semi-trailers to Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, Myanmar, Japan, and the US.

At the end of 2019 THACO exported 15 buses to the Philippines and 120 Kia Cerato cars to Myanmar.

So far this year, in addition to the 120 Kia Grand Carnival cars shipped to Thailand, THACO has also exported 80 Kia Cerato cars to Myanmar and 36 semi-trailers and two modular house drawbar trailers to the US.

On July 13 the company plans to ship to the US another 33 semi-trailers, the remaining of the 69 contracted with PITTS Enterprises, its partner in that country.

They include 20/40 feet 2-axis semi-trailers and 20/40 feet 3-axis semi-trailers. The semi-trailers’ overall length can be retracted to 31 feet 10 inches (9,629 mm) and extended to 42 feet 2 inches (12,478mm) to carry a variety of containers.

The products meet the US’s transportation standards such as DOT, AAR, ANSI, TOFC, FMVSS, SAE, and TTMA.

THACO plans to increase exports to existing markets and explore and enter new markets, set up distribution systems in importing countries and set up joint ventures and partnerships to expand markets.

The company’s 2020 export plans include shipping more than 1,400 vehicles of various kinds to Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, the US, and Japan, as well as expanding its exports to Malaysia, Korea, Armenia and some other markets. — VNS