VinFast

VinFast may not have a long history, but it does not lack for ambition. The Automaker came into existence only five years ago, the latest addition to an unlikely conglomerate founded by Vietnam’s first billionaire, Pham Nhat Vuong. It built its first vehicles, reworked versions of the third-generation BMW X5, in 2019 and decided to go fully electric this year. It also recently announced a $2 Billion investment in a U.S. factory.

A part of Vingroup JSC, the origins of the company go back to an instant noodle business Pham founded in Ukraine shortly after graduating from a Russian university in 1992. Parlaying his success in that venture into more food and hospitality businesses, he sold his Ukrainian operation to Nestlé for $150 Million in 2010, returning to Vietnam full time (after already making major investments beginning in 2003).

Today Vingroup today operates an assortment of businesses, including high-end shopping malls, spas, resorts, amusement parks, hospitals and even a university. 

Now the richest man in Vietnam—Forbes estimates his worth at $6.2 billion—Pham is now intent on becoming a global automotive baron. Dubbed VinFast, his newest venture is intent on living up to its name. Just two years after launching the company, a sprawling production complex in the port city of Haiphong, about 50 miles east of Hanoi, was churning out cars. 

At home in Vietnam it builds a range of different vehicles, some of which are still powered by combustion engines, but in late 2021 it announced a plan to launch in the U.S. with a range of all-new, fully-electric vehicles. Surprisingly, the move comes before VinFast launches in China, which has a larger market for EVs but also a more saturated one and strict foreign partnership rules for automakers.

VinFast is still small, selling 32,000 gas-powered vehicles in Vietnam through November of last year according to Bloomberg, but it has already defied expectations. The automaker has worked closely with partners and suppliers like Magna Steyr, ABB, Bosch and Siemens for production and design expertise and already produces electric buses and scooters in Vietnam.

The company announced its first two EVs Los Angeles Auto Show in November of 2021, returning just two months later to CES 2022 to announce that it was readying a total of five all-electric models, including the first two coming to the U.S. named the VF 8 and VF 9. They are expected to go on sale here before the end of 2022. A third SUV, the smaller VF 7, is set to launch in 2023, according to VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy. In March of 2022, the company announced plans for a new factory in North Carolina.

Like many upstarts before it, from successes like Hyundai to fallen flags like Lancia and Daihatsu,  VinFast will face a tough battle to win over consumers. The EV market may be a little easier to conquer than the combustion-engine one due to the sheer number of new and unfamiliar names and the success of Tesla, but VinFast will still have to face off against world-class EVs from Ford, GM, Hyundai and Volkswagen.

As at startups Fisker, Tesla and Rivian, VinFast will bypass the traditional dealership model and sell its products online, though it plans to open experience and service centers nationwide. In an unusual move, VinFast customers will purchase their vehicles but lease the battery packs, with several different leasing options available. Starting in 2024, consumers will be able to buy the battery with the vehicle, but the automaker has not outlined pricing details.

Buying a new vehicle from an unfamiliar manufacturer is an inherently risky purchase, but VinFast will offer a 10-year, 125,000-mile warranty on its products when they go on sale in late 2022.