VinFast’s VF-8 electric vehicle is displayed in Santa Monica, California on July 18, 2022 (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)
Seeing its electric cars rolling on American roads by the end of the year is the slightly crazy bet of the Vinfast brand, owned by Vietnam’s largest private group.
The brand’s models are increasingly present in the streets of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, but attacking the American market, Tesla’s homeland, is a risky bet in an already crowded market.
In less than two years, the Vingroup conglomerate, run by Vietnam’s richest man, has transformed a muddy patch of swamp near the northern port city of Haiphong into a state-of-the-art factory, equipped with 1,200 robots, machines purchased from Germany, Japan and Sweden, and an international team drawn from automotive giants such as BMW and General Motors.
Its president Pham Nhat Vuong, who made his fortune in the former USSR by selling instant noodles, has since amassed a fortune of 5 billion dollars allowing him to be omnipresent in Vietnam, from real estate to health, in from tourism to education.
Le Thi Thu Thuy, the CEO of Vinfast, Vietnam’s leading car manufacturer, in Haiphong, Vietnam, on August 26, 2022 (AFP/Nhac NGUYEN)
The American market represents an important turning point for Vinfast, admits its president Le Thi Thu Thuy.
“If we succeed there, we can succeed anywhere,” she told AFP from the factory site.
The latest model, the VF8, an SUV designed by Italian Pininfarina, who has worked with Ferrari for decades, is about to be released.
– The American dream –
“We want to show (…) that the Vietnam of today is quite different from the Vietnam of the war, or even from the Vietnam of ten years ago” she adds.
The company has invested heavily in its American dream.
The facade of Vietnamese automaker VinFast’s showroom in Santa Monica, California on July 18, 2022 (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)
In July, Vinfast opened six showrooms in California, including a flagship store in Santa Monica, on one of Los Angeles’ most upscale thoroughfares.
The manufacturer plans to open 30 in total by the end of the year.
He will also spend $2 billion to open a car and battery factory in North Carolina.
Eventually, 150,000 cars will roll off the assembly line and more than 7,000 new jobs are expected to be created, which led US President Joe Biden to make the announcement himself on Twitter in March.
“He is our best salesman,” jokes Ms. Thuy.
But the American public will surely be much more skeptical, estimates Karl Brauer, expert for the American site iSeeCars.com.
“It usually takes about 20 years for a new manufacturer to establish itself in the American market,” he says, quoting South Koreans Hyundai and Kia.
For Americans, an unknown brand is “a brand with which they have never had experience on the road, and whose quality they doubt”, he adds.
Workers assemble an electric car at the VinFast factory in Haiphong, Vietnam on August 26, 2022 (AFP/Nhac NGUYEN)
In order to attract customers, Vinfast relies on price. Its two VF8 and VF9 models offered on the American market cost respectively 42,000 and 57,500 dollars, against 65,000 for the entry-level SUV at Tesla.
The secret is a monthly battery rental system, which the brand replaces free of charge if its capacity is reduced to less than 70%.
“The underlying theory is that we offer you a vehicle that is priced similarly to a combustion engine vehicle,” says Thuy.
But in addition, “you have become environmentally conscious … you are a good consumer, so there is no reason not to buy Electric Vehicles”, adds Thuy, who claims to have received more than 10,000 pre-orders .
– Next target, Europe –
The scale of VinFast’s ambitions, which extend to Europe, where they plan to open a first showroom by the end of the year, has stunned many in the industry.
“It’s extremely difficult to build a car and sell it, at least to a global audience, as seems to be VinFast’s ambitions,” noted Matthew Degen, editor of Kelley Blue Book, a research and diary site. buying cars.
A Vinfast electric car drives past the entrance to the manufacturer’s factory in Haiphong, Vietnam, on August 26, 2022 (AFP/Nhac NGUYEN)
Vinfast developed three vehicles in just 21 months, whereas “it usually takes years and years to take a car from a concept on paper to something you actually drive.”
And although the regular car market is already saturated, he says, there may be a “thin window of opportunity” in the still-developing electric vehicle sector.
Vietnamese “will struggle with people over 50…but younger consumers in this country are increasingly open to new vehicles,” Brauer said.
© 2022 AFP
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