Vietnamese automaker VinFast announced on Tuesday plans to sell its electric cars in Thailand and said it had partnered with car dealers to open showrooms in the country.
VinFast only started exporting electric vehicles last year and faces fierce competition in Thailand from Chinese automakers such as BYD. Tesla recently joined the fray. All showcased their latest models at the Bangkok International Motor Show.
Thailand’s electric vehicle market is small but growing rapidly, driven by government incentives and subsidies. The country of more than 70 million people plans to convert 30% of the 2.5 million cars it produces annually to electric vehicles by 2030.
VinFast Thailand hopes to start selling electric scooters and electric SUVs in the country within the next two months, CEO Vu Dang Yen Hang told The Associated Press.
Details on EV pricing and purchasing will likely be announced later this year.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, Thailand will account for 58% of total electric vehicle sales in Southeast Asia by 2022, ahead of Vietnam and Indonesia. But the electric vehicle market is still small, accounting for only 0.5% of global electric vehicle sales in 2022.
Thailand is trying to change that with incentives to promote the manufacture and sale of electric vehicles, such as lowering import duties and paying subsidies to make them more price competitive.
VinFast has set a goal of selling its cars in 50 markets around the world by the end of 2024.
Hang said it will initially rely on existing charging developers in Thailand, but the long-term plan is to partner with V-Green, a company that builds electric vehicle charging stations and is part of VinFast’s parent company.
“We will work together [V-Green] Building infrastructure for Thai customers who use our cars,” she said.
Launched this month, V-Green plans to spend $404 million over the next two years building charging stations for VinFast vehicles in different countries. Like VinFast, it is part of the massive Vingroup, an instant noodle company founded in Ukraine in the 1990s. It was founded and run by Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam’s richest man.
VinFast’s expansion into Thailand is part of a global expansion that includes exporting electric vehicles to the United States. The company is building an electric vehicle factory in North Carolina and expects to begin production later this year. Another plant is under construction in India and another is planned in Indonesia.
VinFast has started shipping electric vehicles made in Vietnam to neighboring Laos to supply vehicles to Green SM. Green SM is an electric taxi operator whose main shareholder is VinFast founder Vuong.
Last year, the company’s shares debuted on Nasdaq in August and initially soared, briefly giving it a market value greater than General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. But investor enthusiasm has cooled, and the company lost more than $1.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2023.
VinFast has struggled to sell its electric cars in the U.S., and its early cars have received poor reviews. But the company insists that if it can succeed in the crowded and competitive U.S. market, it can succeed anywhere.
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