Vietnam-based VinFast plans to cease production of gasoline-powered cars and go all-electric by the end of the year. The automaker is seeking to open factories in the US and Germany to facilitate this target.
Vietnamese automobile manufacturer VinFast aims to phase out production of gasoline-powered vehicles by the end of 2022, becoming an all-electric company. VinFast is looking into opening an electric vehicle (EV) battery cell plant in the US and a production facility in Germany to achieve this goal.
A part of Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, VinFast was the first domestic carmaker in the country when it launched gas-powered cars in 2019. The company has since expanded to electric vehicles at the end of 2021 and is already making the move away from traditional fuel.
Further driving their technological growth, VinFast will employ blockchain technology to track purchases and confirm ownership of their vehicles.
On January 6th, 2022, VinFast announced its goal to be the first car company to halt gasoline-powered car production completely. To achieve this, the automaker is expanding into the US market, where EVs have gained growing popularity over the recent years.
“We will build our gigafactory in the US as well,” Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vingroup Vice Chair and VinFast Global CEO said, referring to their planned new battery facility. “The company will continue to source batteries from its suppliers,” she added.
VinFast will initially assemble battery packs with cells sourced from its US supplier before starting its own production there, according to Thuy.
Plans include a potential electric bus factory at VinFast’s “mega site.” VinFast had also previously shared plans to produce EVs in the US in late 2024.
Vingroup is also looking into building a battery cell plant locally, hoping to initially produce 100,000 battery packs per year, with an initial $174 million investment, targeting to expand production to one million.
“The era of shipping cars around the world is over, especially since Covid-19. You must have the factory close to the market in order to win over your customers,” VinFast said.
The car manufacturer also shared plans to build an EV plant in Germany.
Since VinFast’s announcement, shares have been rising rapidly and Vingroup aims to sell 42,000 EVs globally by the end of the year.
Featured banner image credit: vinfastauto.com
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