VinFast Auto Ltd.

Founding and early development (2017–2021)

VinFast was established in 2017 as the automotive subsidiary of Vingroup, Vietnam's largest private conglomerate, chaired by the country's first US-dollar billionaire, Phạm Nhật Vượng. Vingroup, which had built its fortune in real estate, retail, hospitality, and other sectors, entered the automotive industry with the stated intention of creating Vietnam's first domestically engineered car brand and becoming a global player. The venture was closely associated with Vietnam's broader industrialisation ambitions: successive government strategies had sought to develop a domestic automotive industry, but most foreign manufacturers had found it more efficient to import vehicles assembled in Thailand and Indonesia rather than invest in local production, leaving the sector underdeveloped. VinFast set targets of an annual capacity of 500,000 units and a 60% localisation ratio by 2025.

The project was also framed around national pride. VinFast deliberately held the ground-breaking ceremony for its Hai Phong complex on 2 September 2017, Vietnam's National Day, and the company stated that its name stands for the Vietnamese words Việt Nam, Phong cách (style), An toàn (safety), Sáng tạo (creativity), and Tiên phong (pioneer), explicitly tying the brand to the rise of a developing and prosperous Vietnam and appealing to Vietnamese consumers' pride in a national car.

VinFast broke ground in September 2017 on an 828-acre (3,350,000 m 2 ) facility in an industrial park on Cat Hai Island near Hai Phong. The factory includes a paint shop, press shop, assembly shop, and engine shop, and was built in 21 months.

During the launch of the first phase of development in 2018, the company reported an initial investment of US$1.5 billion to manufacture cars and electric motorbikes at a greenfield factory. VinFast sourced European design, engineering, and production technology partners. In July 2017 the company had posted 20 car design sketches online from four studios, Italdesign Giugiaro, Pininfarina, Torino Design, and Zagato, and invited the Vietnamese public to vote; over 60,000 votes were cast. The two winning designs, the LUX A2.0 sedan and LUX SA 2.0 SUV, were shown at the Paris Motor Show in autumn 2018.

In 2018, General Motors announced a partnership under which VinFast would have exclusive rights to distribute the Chevrolet brand in Vietnam and would take ownership of the existing GM Korea factory in Hanoi (VIDAMCO), which was then to produce a GM-licensed small car sold under the VinFast name. VinFast also signed contracts with Siemens Vietnam for technology to manufacture electric buses in Southeast Asia.

The company was to have been the title sponsor of the inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix during the 2020 season; the race was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Q1 2020, VinFast was the fifth best-selling car brand in Vietnam. On 20 September 2020, the company announced a loss of VND 6.6 trillion ($284 million) in the first half of the year.

In December 2020, VinFast released preliminary images of a pickup truck in development following the purchase of the Lang Lang Proving Ground in Australia. The pickup concept was later shown as the VF Wild at CES 2024 but had not entered production as of 2026. In October 2021, VinFast announced the sale of the Lang Lang proving ground; it had not found a buyer as of 2026.

In February 2020, VinFast opened an engineering office in Port Melbourne, staffed by former Holden, Ford Australia, and Toyota Australia engineers, becoming the company's first overseas engineering facility. The office was temporarily closed in May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not subsequently reopen as a permanent operation.

On 27 July 2021, Vingroup announced that Michael Lohscheller, former CEO of Opel, had been appointed CEO of VinFast Global. He resigned five months later on 27 December 2021.

On 25 December 2021, VinFast delivered the first batch of 100 VF e34 electric crossovers to Vietnamese customers at its Hai Phong facility, marking Vietnam's first domestically manufactured and sold electric vehicle.

Move to Singapore and Nasdaq listing (2022–2023)

VinFast announced in April 2022 that it planned an initial public offering (IPO) through a Singapore-based holding company, and simultaneously announced it would move its legal and financial headquarters to Singapore while Vietnam remained its operational base. The company stated that "We feel that Singapore is a jurisdiction that will give investors more confidence."

In July 2023, VinFast announced a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) operated by Black Spade Capital, valued at $23 billion. The transaction was completed on 14 August 2023, and VinFast began trading on Nasdaq on 15 August 2023 under the ticker symbol VFS. VinFast's share price surged dramatically on debut before falling sharply in subsequent weeks. Reuters reported that the company had made only 7,400 car sales in 2022, all in Vietnam, casting doubt on the implied valuation of tens of billions of dollars. VinFast set a sales target of 50,000 vehicles globally for 2023 but delivered approximately 35,000, missing the goal.

Financial difficulties and corporate restructuring (2024–2026)

In November 2024, Vingroup JSC pledged to loan VinFast as much as $1.38 billion to help the company break even by the end of 2026, with founder Phạm Nhật Vượng pledging an additional $1.97 billion personally. The break-even target was subsequently pushed back to after 2027, according to Reuters.

In May 2026, VinFast filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a proposed corporate restructuring under which it would divest its Vietnamese manufacturing operations. Under the plan, VinFast's current Vietnamese manufacturing entity, VinFast Trading and Production JSC (VFTP), would be separated from the Singapore-registered holding company and sold to a buyer group led by Future Investment Research and Development JSC, which includes founder Pham Nhat Vuong, in a deal valued at approximately VND 13.3 trillion (US$530 million). The transaction would transfer approximately VND 182 trillion ($6.9 billion) in debt and obligations to VFTP, leaving VinFast Auto Ltd. effectively debt-free. A newly created entity, VinFast Vietnam JSC (VFVN), would retain global research and development, intellectual property, and sales operations, while VFTP would continue producing VinFast-branded vehicles under a cost-plus manufacturing agreement. The company described the restructuring as a move toward an "asset-light" model. Manufacturing facilities in India and Indonesia were stated to be unaffected. Completion was expected in the third quarter of 2026, subject to shareholder, creditor, and regulatory approvals.

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