"Vietnam will become a hub for motorcycle exports."

The new General Director of Honda Vietnam (HVN), Mr. Minoru Kato, recently shared with the press the goal of making Vietnam a hub for motorcycle exports to the regional market.

Honda currently boasts the highest localization rate for each product in Vietnam's motorcycle industry.

According to a report from the Japanese automaker, Honda's sales volume in Vietnam for fiscal year 2013 saw a slight decrease of 5% to 1.85 million vehicles compared to the previous year. However, according to Mr. Minoru Kato, this decline was almost unavoidable due to the general difficulties of the economy. In fact, despite the decrease in production, Honda's market share in Vietnam increased by 5.5%, reaching 68%.

Currently, HVN also has the highest localization rate in the motorcycle industry. On average, the localization rate for the motorcycle models produced by this company is over 93%, with some products reaching a localization rate of up to 97%.

Notably, many critical spare parts have been proactively manufactured within the factory system located in Vietnam. These include the gear factory, with an investment of VND 457 billion, which commenced operations in January 2013 with a capacity of 2.3 million products per year; the new spare parts center officially started operations in April 2013 with an investment of VND 180 billion; and most recently, in April 2014, Honda's largest piston plant, with a total investment of VND 231 billion, also officially began production with a total output of 2.4 million products per year.

In 2013, Honda Vietnam exported a total of 32,600 complete vehicles, achieving a turnover of 163 million USD, a 50% increase compared to 2012. Most of HVN's models were exported, notably the Dunk model, which was produced exclusively for the Japanese market.

“Our goal is to gradually make Vietnam a regional hub for motorcycle exports. We estimate that HVN's export market will expand to 22 countries and territories in the next fiscal year, striving to achieve export revenue of approximately $247 million,” Mr. Kato said.

Vietnam is currently one of Honda's four largest markets and four largest production centers worldwide. The third motorcycle factory, located in Ha Nam province, is expected to officially begin operations in October 2014, bringing the total production capacity of the three factories in Vietnam to 2.5 million vehicles per year.

According to VnEconomy