This is the first commercial bus shipment of Thaco after more than 16 years of investment and development in the Vietnamese automotive industry.

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

To date, Thaco has provided over 17,000 buses for the domestic market, accounting to 65% of the market share.

From 2017, Thaco and the Philippines’ Autodelta Company have conducted research and survey of the Philippine market to design and develop bus products according to customer requirements.

On May 16, 2019, Thaco completed two sample buses to export to the Philippines for trial test, which received satisfaction from local customers.

The company has also signed a plan with the Philippine counterpart to ship 200 buses to the market in 2020.

Tran Ba Duong, Chairman of Thaco’s Board of Directors, the company has set up a post-2018 strategy to join the global value chain with the creation of international automobile brands manufactured in Vietnam and export to ASEAN countries.

At the same time, it strives to promote investment in building automobile assembly and supporting industry in Quang Nam’s Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, which is competitive with regional countries.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said the export of Vietnamese branded buses to the Philippines will pave the way for the shipment of automobiles originated from Vietnam and increase the sector’s regional and global integration.

Also on December 28, Thaco exported some automobile spare parts to the Republic of Korea and Japan.