Vina Star Motors Corporation (VSM), Mitsubishi Motors' joint-venture in Vietnam, held a reception party at 10am on Saturday April 19, 1997 (local time) at the company's head office in Thuan An District, Binh Duong Province, which borders Ho Chi Min City, to celebrate the commissioning of its new factory.

The reception party was attended by some 300 government officials, dignitaries and company representatives, including La Ngoc Khue, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Communication; Nguyen Xuan Chuan, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Industry; Masaki Kunieda, the Japanese Consul General to Vietnam; and Kisai Bin Rahmat, Acting Managing Director of the Malaysian national car company PROTON. Mitsubishi Motors was represented by Koya Okamoto, executive managing director, Mitsubishi Corporation by Masao Miyamoto, general manager of the Motor Vehicle Division B, and TracimexCo by Nguyen Duc Lam, general director.

VSM was established in May 1994 as a joint-venture enterprise between Mitsubishi Motors, Mitubishi Corporation, PROTON of Malaysia, and the Vietnamese state enterprise Vietranscimex (renamed TracimexCo in December 1995) after formal approval by the State Committee for Cooperation and Investment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. After the installation of new painting and assembly plant in the existing VSM factory buildings, VSM commenced production operations in March 1995.

Construction of a new factory in the same site started in February 1995. Assembly of a Mitsubishi Delica Minibus model (L300) started at the new factory, which is fitted with the latest electro-deposition painting, welding and assembly machinery and equipment, in February 1997. The April 19 reception was held to celebrate the commissioning of the new facility.

The new factory has an annual production capacity of 5,000 vehicles (working on a two-shift basis) which can be expanded to meet future increases in demand. Production of Mitsubishi Delica Minibus, Canter truck and Pajero models and the PROTON Wira model in 1995 and 1996 totaled 900 vehicles. Plans call for a combined total of 1,000 vehicles in 1997.

VSM Corporate Profile