Move over Tesla, how about a VinFast?
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That's the proposition being offered by the automobile arm of Vietnam's largest conglomerate, Vingroup. It's betting big on the US market with its VinFast line of cars and hoping that electric SUVs and a battery leasing model will be enough to woo consumers away from homegrown market leaders like Tesla and General Motors Co.
A recent arrival on the automotive scene and the No. 5 car brand in Vietnam, VinFast is not short on ambition, with its sights set on a US listing and a valuation of as much as $60 billion, according to two sources familiar with its plans.
It will launch in North America and Europe in 2022, CEO Nguyen Thi Van Anh told Reuters, joining a crowded field of players seeking to compete with Elon Musk's Tesla, including a slew of loss-making upstarts fuelled by a Wall Street fundraising craze.
VinFast cars will come with a battery leasing scheme that means the cost of the battery, one of the most expensive components of an electric car, will not be included in the final price.
