Yutana Sanada, Regional Senior Vice-President; Head, Operations Committee, Asia and Oceania, Nissan Motor Co., Japan
|
Sure, it obviously will happen. Even though GDP per capital or other KPIs are still a bit gap to the acceleration of motorization, but with the industry growth of 6-7% average annually of this country, I’m sure Vietnam will reach this level soon. Also, with some other technologies and types of connectivity, I think Vietnamese customers are the key. They have access to the mobiles. So, for these types of things, maybe Vietnam can skip on normal evolution. So I have full confidence about Vietnam’s growth.
How will the Fourth Industrial Revolution help local companies catch up with others? Will it make them, including Vietnamese enterprises, become strong competitors to other big auto corporations in the world?
I think the automotive industry naturally tries to set up some big car assembly plants or something. Of course, I don’t know our partners or competitors’ plans. Now with the collaboration with various players such as Mazda, Toyota, I think the latest way to make the car is also coming physically. So, I think Vietnamese people can easily adapt.
Now electric vehicle is becoming the trend of the world. Do you think the trend will put an end to traditional auto companies?
I really like this subject. Nissan wants to be the leader in this domain. Country by country, I think the environment, or the electrification is different. For instance, infrastructure, tax for example of course are different. But Nissan’s strategy or Nissan’s strong intention is bringing some products quickly to customers. Because without touching, just seeing the products only on magazines then it is not so easy for the customers to understand. Physically, I want to try to make even a small volume of some fast generation cars available, together with the supports from the local entities. Then, I try to make as much as possible chance that our customers can touch and drive. This is the first step rather than making business benefits. Priority is to create awareness. I like other competitors’ initiatives as well. Maybe together with our competitors, we try to increase the awareness of electrification. Then step by step we can make it. That is my idea.
How do you evaluate the future of the self-driving vehicle? When do you think this kind of vehicle will come to the road like others?
I think potentially, it is quicker than we thought. For instance, the emergency auto breaking system, this is the type of auto master driving because our driver is not touching the breaking system, but the car will automatically stop. This is a part of autonomous driving. Nissan’s Automotive Intelligence Cruising System on high way. With the combination of these technologies, maybe step by step you can find more free time during your driving and does not always keep your hands on the way. Then, after that you have time to touch another technology. I think our industry, maybe competition start from this part. I am optimistic, in terms of the time.
It depends on the market and the situation because for autonomous driving we will need the supports from local government in terms of safety. Because the safety of the driver is the most important. How we can protect. I cannot say specific timing for each market but potentially, maybe in 10 years or 15 years it will be possible, physically.
Vietnam has very young auto industry so the fast development of the self-driving vehicle like you said can be challenging for Vietnam?
Again, to touch for these types of things here in Hanoi, in Beijing, in Tokyo, in New York city as of today, even though manufacturing facilities for automotive industry currently offered to the market could be different, but I am optimistic. Maybe, customers’ natural demand is getting higher and higher, so our manufacturers need to provide the right product to respond to the demand. Naturally we can help to make it, so again I am optimistic knowing our local engineers in our local entity are so capable and so quick run up to catch up. So, I have no concerns.
How do you evaluate the potential of Vietnam’s automatic industry and the self-driving vehicle?
As I said earlier, the current total industry growth here is 6-7%. But from our knowledge, maybe in 5 years. I think the average purchasing power will grow up rapidly. So, you can be optimistic about the growth. In 5 years’ time, there maybe some change moments happen, especially here in Vietnam I think.
Are there any opportunities for Vietnamese companies to join Nissan’s manufacturing chain?
Of course, you can see our partnerships worldwide. We have a lot of approaches in order to meet local specific requirements. Yes, sometimes we can do by ourselves, and sometimes to really contribute and engage, we have partnerships. We are always open for some collaboration.
Thank you very much!
