Only half a month after VinFast, Vietnam's first electric car brand, went public in the US, its stock price surged by over 700%, propelling its market value to 160 billion USD, making it the third largest car manufacturer globally, behind only Tesla and Toyota.
Amid the rise of the electric vehicle trend, VinFast has not only delved into the local market, but has also established factories in the US last year and launched a variety of models. It also invested in battery research and development, automatic parking and other new technologies to target the global market.
VinFast was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Hanoi. It declared as a "pure electric vehicle manufacturer" in the end of 2022. Within just 6 years, VinFast has successfully developed 7 electric vehicles, 8 electric motorcycles and 1 electric bus named VinBus.
VinBus started operating in Hanoi in 2021 and plans to expand into five major cities in Vietnam. VinFast currently owns 200 official stores in the country and more than 3,000 charging stations nationwide.
The company is conducting an exhibition tour across 11 provinces and cities in Vietnam, scheduled from July 7 to September 17. During the event, exhibitors will not only have the opportunity to experience the latest VF9 model but will also be able to explore the company's cutting-edge technologies.
These include AI speech recognition, automatic text extraction, automatic parking, a 360-degree panoramic observation system with a transparent viewing angle function, a driving and passenger monitoring system, and rearview mirror capable of automatic adjustment according to the driving angle.
Furthermore, VinFast has begun selling electric vehicles in several states in the US. The company is currently building a factory in North Carolina, intended for manufacturing and product delivery. It is estimated that after completion, the annual production capacity will reach 150,000, with plans for continuous expansion to meet the growing market demand.
Vietnam’s EV market is set to grow as green awareness rises
According to VinFast, the brand currently has 26,000 orders worldwide, of which about 10,000 are in the US, and two-thirds of them are for VF9.
VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy said, "The challenge for VinFast is to create products that fit all customer budgets. Our mission is to make EV more accessible, that is why we have introduced various products to the market, ranging from the mini model VF3 to the full-sized SUV VF9 with three rows of seats.”
He also said that the company's future goal is to expand to Southeast Asia, North America, along with penetration into the European and Middle Eastern markets. According to the company's income statement, VinFast has sold 11,000 electric vehicles in Vietnam in the first half of 2023, with the VF e34 model emerging as the bestseller.
Although many Vietnamese are still accustomed to fuel-powered motorcycles and well-known brands, more and more are becoming aware of the importance of EVs for the environment. Vietnam plans to promote the conversion of all vehicles to green electricity by 2050.
