Vietnamese electric vehicle maker Vinfast is receiving a $2.5 billion capital injection as it pursues an ambitious plan to lure American consumers with a slate of electric SUVs and crossovers.
Billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, who founded Vinfast’s parent company Vingroup, pledged on Wednesday to invest $1 billion of his personal wealth through a grant into the electric vehicle company. Vingroup, the largest conglomerate in the country, will invest $500 million. The parent company has also agreed to lend Vinfast an additional $1 billion with a maturity of up to five years.
A Vuong representative said in a statement that he is donating some of his personal assets to “energize VinFast during the critical acceleration period to create a Vietnam brand in the global EV market.”
“VinFast’s growth potential has been demonstrated over the past five years,” Vingroup CEO Nguyen Viet Quang said in a prepared statement. “This is a critical period for VinFast to accelerate towards a strong competitive position in the global EV market.”
The capital commitments come as Vinfast targets the United States, one of the world’s largest auto markets.
Vinfast’s grand ambitions came to fruition soon after its formation in 2017. The company unveiled its first internal combustion engine vehicles at the 2018 Paris Motor Show and later added a range of e-scooters and vehicles for the Vietnamese market. . The company has said that within a year of launch, its vehicles became the best seller in vietnam.
Vinfast then made a pivot to a pure electric vehicle company and, as it continued to make inroads in Vietnam, set its sights on the US market as well. VinFast said it has introduced six EV models, one electric bus model and nine electric motorcycles. Some 3,000 electric cars have been exported to foreign markets.
Vinfast’s aspirations extend well beyond a few thousand exported vehicles. The company, which presented four jeeps Unveiled at the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show, it has plans to build a factory in North Carolina and establish showrooms and service centers across the US. The company received $1.2 billion in incentives to build the factory in North Carolina.
the company too filed an initial public offering in the United States, though that seems to have faded or at least been delayed. The company has not yet disclosed the number of shares to be offered or the price range and no IPO date has been set.
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