Vietnam Remains Attractive Investment Destination

2009 was a difficult year for the economy in general and Piaggio in particular, which suffered a sales drop of 9 percent. However, this decline is considered a positive figure in the global financial crisis. To learn about the development of Piaggio Vietnam after nearly one year of production and operation in Vietnam, the Vietnam Business Forum had a talk with Mr Mario Di Maria, Piaggio Vice President and Sales and Market Manager.

The Piaggio Vietnam scooter factory started operations nearly a year ago. Would you mind telling production and business results in the past time?

We invested in Vietnam in the most difficult time of the global economy, but we saw the difficulty as the opportunity. We took it as the key in the new market. Piaggio conducted in-depth researches on the Vietnamese market and saw a wide room for upscale scooters in Vietnam. We thus focused on upmarket scooter market segments and initially attained good results. In fact, Piaggio made remarkable successes in Asia in 2009, especially Vietnam where its sales reached about 28,000 products as of this month. Specifically, in March 2010, we introduced Vespa S, an exclusive product line for men, onto the Vietnamese market. Vespa S is the second product in Vietnam after Vespa LX, marking an important milestone for the success of Piaggio Vietnam.

So, what is your prediction for the motorcycle market in 2010?

The Vietnamese motorbike market is very fiercely contested by manufacturers but there are still many potentialities for investors to unlock. Previously, we only kept 4-5 percent of the market share, but since we decided to invest in the scooter plant in Vinh Phuc province, Vietnam, our sales and market share continue to rise. This demonstrates that the Vietnamese market is still relatively open to wise investors.

In 2010, the economic growth is predicted to be good. So, we also believe in growing scooter sales. Vietnam has more than 80 million people and the supply and demand are always on the market. The importance is to measure the supply and position the trademark on the market. Piaggio is hoping to enjoy a better success in 2010.

Currently, Piaggio has developed a good distribution system, constantly updated information for customers and improved its image in the heart of customers.

We trust Vietnam’s government policies in 2010 after we saw what it did in 2009 where the economic crisis worsened. We believe that the production and business activities of Piaggio will more successful in 2010.

Piaggio is known to have decided to reallocate its Asian production from Singapore to Vietnam in early 2010? Could you reveal the reason for Piaggio’s choice?

That’s right. From January 2010, we reallocated our regional office from Singapore to Vietnam. When we invest, we focus on political, economic and social stability and Vietnam is widely known for its very high stability. This is the most important factor for us to decide to move our office to Vietnam. Locating the regional office in Vietnam, we have received strong supports and commitments for environmental investment from authorities. Hopefully, after Piaggio, more businesses will locate their company offices in Vietnam.

We see that Vietnam is the key to open the Asian market. We have quite good growth in Vietnam and we are very satisfied with the results in project implementation, sales and localised ratio. These are good signals for manufacturers. And, 2010 is an important year for us to make longer strides in the coming time.

So, what is the next plan of Piaggio?

In production, we concentrate on upscale production lines and continue expanding and upgrading our agent system in 3S standards (Sales, Service and Spare parts). We plan to raise our agents to 92 in 2010. The customer satisfaction is very important and we therefore focus on sales and after-sales services and provide customers with best products and after-sales services.

Thank you very much!

Posted by VBN on Mar 26 2010. Filed under Enterprises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry