Vinfast is a Vietnamese company that was founded two years ago in 2017. Vinfast is also the first 100% Vietnamese carmaker and many Vietnamese are already excited about the idea of buying a car fully made in Vietnam. The first cars have been delivered in June this year and for the occasion the company showed to the media one of the factories based in Vietnam. Like many large and ambitious companies, Vinfast has several goals. Its short term goals is to rapidly expand in the local market thanks to the increasing Vietnamese middle class. The company’s long-term goals are even bigger and the company hopes to be able to expand internationally.
However, the company will have to face adversity. In fact, despite the fact that the Vietnamese middle class grows at a staggering pace, Vinfast will have to face the competition from strong players like Ford and Toyota which are extremely popular brands in Vietnam.
Vinfast’s parent company is Vingroup Joint Stock Company. Vingroup is Vietnamese conglomerate focusing on real estate development, retail, and services ranging from healthcare to hospitality. The company was founded by property developer and entrepreneur Phạm Nhật Vượng. Mr Vuong was the first Vietnamese to become billionaire in US $ and is still the current richest Vietnamese. VIngroup used to be rated B+ by Fitch with a stable outlook but recently the group announced that it was withdrawing from rating. The reason of the withdrawal is that Fitch was worried by the start of Vinfast’s activities. The group had to spend more than $3bn in capital expenditures with roughly half of it funded by debt.