A new car maker is emerging from South East Asia and it comes from our neighbours in the north, Vietnam. In a surprising mention, VinFast will debut as the first major automaker in Vietnam to be showcased at the Paris Motor Show later this year. VinFast comes under Vingroup, a consortium of the largest private enterprises in Vietnam.
Cars have never really been related to Vietnam especially after the Jeremy Clarkson special where he had to ride a bike through Vietnam together with Richard Hammond and James May. That sort of solidified in my mind that bikes are indeed the main transportation method about. Of course, that is quite prejudiced but one point to note that I took away from that special was that the prices of cars have a high import tax. Similar to what we see here in Malaysia.
In May, VinFast announced that they aim to develop a cheap electric car for the Vietnamese market, a car which would be marketed at around the price of $13,000. That is a third of the price of Tesla’s Model 3 for comparison and VinFast has chosen EDAG, the world’s largest independent German engineering services provider, to deliver that electric car.
“We are proud that VinFast has chosen us as the overall engineering partner to work on their trendsetting electric vehicle project,” stated Cosimo De Carlo, CEO of EDAG Group.
“Our all-round skills in vehicle and production plant development coupled with our expertise in the fields of eMobility, car IT, and electrics/electronics inspired the confidence of our customer Vinfast. EDAG’s standing as an independent engineering services provider with international experience predestines the firm to go new ways at high technical levels and turn innovative concepts into marketable products,” added Carlo to the Vietnam Investment Review.
