VinFast and its high hopes for the Philippines, how will it work?

With so many new car brands entering our market in the past few years, especially from China, only a select few have actually gained the traction they all want in a very competitive market space. Competition is good for us consumers, but how about for the brands?

Obviously, it makes it difficult for them to grow as they can easily be dismissed by most car buyers, especially in a market such as the Philippines, which still has a lot of conservative types who’d rather go for established makes like those from Japan. But what about something that isn’t from China, something that’s also Southeast Asian, like us?

That’s where VinFast steps in. The first homegrown automotive manufacturer from neighboring Vietnam, the company entered our market in 2024. While they don’t seem to be enjoying much in terms of sales, they have high hopes for our market. How will they achieve their goals? That we learned during a recent trip to their home country, and saw how they did things there.

First, they do have quite the backing. Owned by the Vingroup, a large conglomerate that holds different companies in multiple industries, it’s definitely in good hands. We can best describe the company as something like the SM Investments Corporation or Ayala Corporation, or maybe even the Villar Group of Companies, with the same first letter and their branding on everything (hehe).

Other than VinFast, under the Vingroup are several subsidiaries such as VinHomes and VinPearl in the real estate and leisure sectors, VinUniversity and VinSchool for education, VinMec in the medical sector, VinCom for retail and shopping, and VinWonders for amusement parks, among many others. There was even VinSmart for smartphones and VinCommerce for convenience stores and supermarkets under the VinMart brand. Yup, they have it all for you. Get it?

Why is it important to mention all that? Well, it’s an ecosystem, where everything is connected. From your home to schools, and of course, transportation. This ecosystem they showcased to us during our four-day trip, and we were definitely impressed.

As we touched down in the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi, we were immediately greeted by VinAirlines and VinPlanes Xanh SM taxis, essentially their version of Green GSM, which started operating in our country earlier this year. With VinFast already having introduced its initial lineup of full EVs, I believe that having its vehicles operate in the public transportation sector is one great way to establish its name.

VinFast’s vehicles already have a very recognizable design theme, and it was very interesting to see their different models all over the Vietnamese streets. On top of that, they even have electric scooters, which we think should be introduced in our market as a way to grow that part of the market, especially with the dominance of small cc scooters and underbone motorcycles.

On the first day of the trip, the brand wasted no time, immediately bringing us to the VinUniversity right after we checked into our hotel and had lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Located within the Vinhomes Ocean City township development, just outside the center of Hanoi, it opened in 2019 after being constructed for just a little over one year. The 23-hectare campus is quite the sight, looking like it was located somewhere in Europe instead of Southeast Asia, and has a lot in its expansion plans.

And while the grandiose may seem a bit out of touch, VinUniversity is actually a non-profit institution, using its earnings for the betterment of society through higher education and providing scholarships. I failed to note the estimated number of scholars the university has enrolled right now, but it plans to recruit 500 scholars globally.

On our second day, we got the chance to get acquainted with something more familiar to us with a tour of VinFast’s manufacturing plant in the coastal city of Hai Phong, two hours east of Hanoi.

This facility really showed us the capability of VinFast as an automotive superpower with a land area of 335 hectares for both electric car and motorcycle manufacturing. It’s capable of producing 38 vehicles per hour on its 98% automated assembly lines, composed of over 12,000 robotic machinery, and with 16 production areas for different processes.

It’s also capable of producing up to 300,000 VinFast electric motorcycles and 1,500 VinBus electric buses per year. It even has a 60% localization rate for parts, which means those parts used in manufacturing are mostly sourced from within Vietnam, with the aim of an 80% localization rate.

We started our tour by visiting the facility’s test track, with a handful of Vinfast vehicles available for us to try out. Basically a free-for-all circus, we got to push the VF 3, VF 6, and their flagship VF 9 to their limits, on the course with its 1km straight for acceleration and top speed tests, ending with a 150m wide skid pad where we could push the cars around.

The quick tests with these vehicles proved that they were fairly solid. Collectively, I and my fellow motoring media colleague noted some points for improvement with the test vehicles, but it wasn’t hard to say that VinFast was heading in the right direction. 

After that, it was time to get a proper tour of the facility’s production lines. We saw everything from stamping, all the way to complete production, with a side trip to the motorcycle assembly line, where some of our companions got to test out some models from the brand’s e-scooter line in what I can best describe as simulated conditions of the streets of Hanoi.

Just like every other automotive manufacturing plant visit, it was quite a sight to see the different processes that go into car production. Sure, there were some oversights, such as how we became the target of some stray welding sparks, and the cleanliness around the facility wasn’t as good as you’d expect, but these can be fixed with little adjustment.

Growing its Philippine presence

Now we know what the brand is like over in its home country, but how about in our market, where its presence is felt only at the same level as some unknown Chinese automakers with a small presence?

Well, for starters, the recently hired CEO for VinFast Southeast Asia is Antonio “Toti” Zara III. That name should ring a bell because he used to be the president of ACMobility, which is the distributor of BYD and Kia in the Philippines, and a former distributor of the Volkswagen and Maxus brands. He was also the former president of Nissan Philippines.

We sat down with him on our last full day in Hanoi and learned more about how the company plans to make its presence felt in the Philippines, and they do have a lot planned.

The most important way to reach customers is through dealerships, and by the end of 2025, VinFast Philippines aims to have established 30 of them, along with brand awareness campaigns starting in the fourth quarter of the year.

We also know of their partnerships with third-party aftersales providers, which will allow them to expand their aftersales reach faster and easier. These third-party providers will be able to do services such as preventive maintenance, warranty repairs, and software updates.

But what we found most striking, VinFast’s planned Residual Value Guarantee which is set to launch soon. What exactly is this? VinFast Philippines says that if a vehicle were to be returned to its selling dealer within six months from the date of purchase, the customer would be able to receive up to 90% of its value.

The company is also going for deeper customer connections with the recently launched design voting program.

Dubbed as Pili Pilipinas, this program would add some engagement between the brand and its customers as they would directly contribute to what future VinFast vehicles could look like by voting for 50 different design concepts across the brand’s model lineup, and predict which one gets the most votes, coming with prizes valued at up to Php 5.1-million.

Will this work for PH?

In all fairness to VinFast, we are seeing a slow but visible increase in their different vehicles on local roads. The taxis are obvious, but so are customer units, which are what truly count.

It’s not explicitly stated, but unsurprisingly, VinFast wants to take a page out of ACMobility’s book by building an ecosystem that seamlessly connects its vehicles to everyday activities and needs. That’s how VinFast wants to grow in the Philippines, and they’ve already started.

Acceptance is key for the Philippine market, and that’s what VinFast, as a Vietnamese company, is aiming for. As to how long it will take them to grow here, we don’t know. What we’re sure of is that they have high hopes and dreams, and they’ll have to do everything they can to achieve them in such a competitive and highly opinionated market like ours.

_{Photos by Julian Panlilio}