What is left for competitors if Vinfast starts selling cars at cost price?
Recently, images of the first two models of Vinfast’s sedan and SUV designed by Pininfarina through a $5 million contract sharing intellectual property rights from BMW are now exhibited at the Paris Motor Show at the end of last week.
With the logo V in front and the word Vinfast in the back, the IDG Sedan 02 design which won the public vote in the sedan line-up with 22,400 votes (36.2 per cent).
The vote for SUVs was won by IDG SUV 02, with 13,853 votes (22.4 per cent). However, according to information leaked on social media, IDV SUV 03 will also be introduced at Paris Motor Show. The commercial versions of these cars will be sold in 2019.
At Vingroup’s annual general shareholders’ meeting (AGM) taking place on May 31, Vuong stated that the domestic market is the priority of Vinfast. Although Vietnam is a competitive market, he believes Vinfast’s chances of success are high.
Vuong confirmed that Vinfast cars will beat competition in quality due to the highly automated manufacturing. There are 1,200 robots working in the welding factory of Vinfast.
Moreover, the selling price will be very different from market standards as profit will not be a priority for Vinfast as instead the firm will focus on capturing the market.
In the long term, however, Vinfast will export its cars. Russia and the surrounding countries will be the priority market at first because of the large population and the significant knowledge the leaders of Vingroup hold about this market.
“In the long term, Vinfast will be the mainstay business line for Vingroup. Vinfast will not only manufacture automobiles, but also set foot in the heavy industry through cutting-edge technology to manufacture so many things. This is the new target of Vingroup,” Vuong said the AGM.
With the total investment of VND35 trillion ($1.54 billion), the 335-hectare mega automotive factory project in Cat Hai (Haiphong city) is expected to place Vietnam on the global map of automobile manufacturing with the annual capacity of 250,000 electric motorbike and 250,000 cars in the first phase.
Source: VIR
