Russian automobile company Sollers plans to set up an assembly plant in Vietnam in 2018, the company’s General Director Vadym Shvetsov said on the sidelines of the third Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia on September 6. The company is negotiating terms with Vietnamese partners, including technical issues, industrial assembly facility, he said, adding that Vietnam also has conditions for setting up the facility.

In July, Sollers first announced the plans to create a joint assembly plant in Vietnam with initial capacity of 1,000 cars per year, according to Shvetsov. Sollers has worked with world leading automobile makers such as Ford, SsangYong and Mazda.

Furthermore, Vietnam’s leading property developer Vingroup [VIC.HM] said on Saturday it launched construction of a car factory in a project worth $1-1.5 billion in the first phase. The project is part of Vingroup’s expansion plan into the heavy industry of Vietnam, its vice chairman was quoted as saying in a statement, following similar moves in other major sectors such as retail and health care.

Vingroup said it hopes to become a top car manufacturer in the Southeast Asian region, making 500,000 cars per year by 2025.

The company expects to produce 100,000-200,000 vehicles per year in the first phase, including 5-seat sedans, 7-seat SUV and electric motorbikes.

Vingroup’s spokeswoman told Reuters the factory would introduce the first electric motorbikes in 12 months and first cars in 24 months.

Its construction brand VINFAST signed a memorandum to borrow $800 million from Credit Suisse AG [CSGN.S] to build the 335-hectare (827.8 acres) factory, located in Vietnam’s northern city of Haiphong.

Activity levels across Vietnam’s manufacturing sector continued to improve in Auguest. The Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) – a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance – ticked up to 51.8 in August from 51.7 in July, signaling a further modest monthly improvement in the health of the sector, Nikkei has said in a report.

The recent improvements in the domestic manufacturing sector continued in August, extending the current sequence of strengthening business conditions to 21 months. A solid and accelerated rise in new orders was central to the latest improvement in business conditions. New business has increased continuously since December 2015 while the rate of expansion in new export orders also quickened and was the fastest in four months.

Despite the marked increase in input costs, firms continued to reduce their output prices in August. Charges decreased for the fourth month running, albeit only marginally. Purchasing activity increased at a faster pace, with the latest expansion linked to higher new orders. Stocks of purchases also rose; the 14th month running this has been the case.

Post-production inventories, on the other hand, decreased for the second successive month, albeit marginally. Panelists suggested that the dispatch of finished products to customers were behind the reduction.

The reported noted that business confidence improved in August and was the strongest since March. Anecdotal evidence suggested that firms were planning to increase output, helped by expansions in capacity and predictions of rising new orders. More than 56 per cent of respondents predicted a rise in production over the coming 12 months.

“Vietnam’s manufacturing sector continued to perform steadily mid-way through the third quarter of the year,” said Mr. Andrew Harker, Associate Director at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey. “There were further positive signs regarding new orders, which should help the sector maintain growth going forward.”

Source：Vietnam+ , Reuters , Vietnam Economic Times