Vietnamese automaker Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco) held a ceremony in the central province of Quang Nam on Saturday to mark the export of its 15 buses to the Philippines.

The SITC Hainan cargo ship departed Chu Lai Port in Quang Nam Province to transport the Thaco buses to the Philippines.

It is expected to take another 30 days of preparation before the buses are officially put into operation.

Since 2004, the firm has been manufacturing and assembling buses, and continuously promoting investment in the field to meet domestic and foreign market requirements.

Thaco has so far provided over 17,000 buses for the Vietnamese market, accounting for 65 percent of the market share.

From 2017, Thaco and the Philippines’ Autodelta Company have conducted research and surveyed the Philippine market to design and develop buses that meet the local standards.

On May 16, 2019, Thaco completed two sample buses for export to the Philippines for test use, which satisfied its local customers.

The company then signed a deal with the Filipino firm to ship a total of 200 buses to the market in 2020.

Speaking at the ceremony, Roberto Torres, general director of Autodelta, believed that the cooperation between the two firms is only in its infancy.

The Filipino market with more than 100 million people is waiting for more bus models from Thaco in the future, he added.

According to Tran Ba Duong, chairman of Thaco’s board of directors, exporting the 15 Thaco buses is significant to the development of Vietnam’s auto industry, as it helps realize the government’s plan to boost shipments of automobiles and related components in the coming years.  

“We are committed to further investing in the growth of automobile manufacturing and support industries, thus improving the country’s competitiveness in the global value chain,” Duong remarked.

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