While Volkswagen is knee-deep in bad press following its recent emissions controversy, the German car company announced this week that it will start assembling cars in Vietnam next year.

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The Vietnam Economic Times, citing a report in VN Economy, writes that the automobile manufacturer is currently negotiating with Phu Thai Holdings to develop plans for importing, assembling and distributing its models in Vietnam.

A source told VN Economy that Volkswagen has tapped Dutch-owned PON to assist Phu Thai Holdings with market research and “a master plan to introduce Volkswagen cars in Vietnam”.

Vietnam may be a jumping-off point for VW’s expansion into Southeast Asia, as PON’s mandate extends to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Volkswagen will assemble and sell six different models in Vietnam with the hopes of selling 1,600 units in 2016 and 6,800 units by 2020, according to the online economic publication. The company has yet to announce which models will be sold in Vietnam.

News of Volkswagen’s entry into the Vietnamese market comes as the company finds itself in hot water after cheating diesel emissions tests in the United States. The erroneous results affected up to 11 million cars and put VW at the center of a fraud investigation.

The company now faces billions of dollars in fines and was recently the subject of scathing piece in the Financial Times entitled 'Seven reasons Volkswagen is worse than Enron'.

Hopefully, the company cleans up its act before launching its Vietnam operations.