~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

[Year 1997]
[Year 1998]
[Year 1999]
[Year 2000]
[Year 2001]

Mercedes Benz Vietnam markets new C class passenger car

HANOI - Ho Chi Minh City-based auto assembler Mercedes-Benz Vietnam has launched its new model of C-Class passenger car, the C200K, into the Hanoi market. The vehicle, the first that Mercedes-Benz has assembled locally with 100 per cent imported parts, will retail for US$48,195 for manual transmission, and $52,920 for automatic transmission. Marketing, which will target diplomats, executives and the wealthy, will focus on the powerful 163 horsepower Kompressor engine.

Mercedes-Benz Vietnam, a joint venture between German Daimler-Benz Vietnam Investment Singapore Pty Ltd and Sai Gon Automobile Mechanical Corporation, said it had already signed up 20 buyers. Its target is to sell 100 units of the new model this year, and the company expects to sell an overall total of 700 cars from across its range. Mercedes last year sold 530 units in the Vietnamese market, almost triple its 1999 sales.

The increase was largely thanks to the market doubling in size," Mercedes-Benz Vietnam's general director Jeorg Neuffer told reporters. But he said Mercedes-Benz would not try to increase the size of its present production in the short term as Mercedes vehicles belong to a smaller market segment. Instead it will release a series of public transport vehicles such as inter-city buses, big buses and heavy duty trucks, to meet the growing demand.

Vietnam News Agency - february 22, 2001.