Suzuki Motorcycle and Truck Joint Venture Begins Operation

12/06/96

The Associated Press reported that Suzuki Motor Corp.'s joint venture with Vietnam has started operating an assembly plant to make light trucks and motorcycles. The financial newspaper Investment said the factory, located in the Bien Hoa industrial zone north of Ho Chi Minh City, had set a production goal of 10,000 trucks and 30,000 motorcycles per year. The venture's product will be sold locally in Viet Nam and exported.

Workers at the factory will assemble trucks from complete knockdown kits and motorcycles from incomplete ones. Start-up costs for the factory cost the partners of the joint venture $34 million. The partners for the venture are the Vietnam Agricultural Machinery Industrial Plant, Suzuki Motor Corporation, and Nissho Iwai Corporation.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel