Vietnam's VinFast expands into Europe and North America

Vietnam's first commercial car manufacturer VinFast has expanded its operations into Europe and North America opening offices on both continents, as it seeks to break into both continents' electric vehicle markets.

The company has been in business since 2017 and released its first set of cars onto the streets of Vietnam in 2019.

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The firm is a subsidiary of Vingroup, which currently stands as Vietnam's largest corporation and operates within the technology, industry, real estate development, retail and services.

The group revealed the expansion in a statement, which read: "VinFast has set up representative offices in five international markets and will soon open showrooms in California.

"VinFast USA's CEO has already relocated to the US from Vietnam recently."

The company has ambitions to sell as many as 55,000 cars by 2022, but this was scaled back due to the semiconductor shortage currently ravaging the automotive industry.

Reuters reports the company is still operating at a loss and sells roughly 30,000 cars manually.

In order to maximise its operations, it will be seeking public listing in the US to generate enough cash to support its growth.

The company has plans to roll out its first fully electric, self-driving SUVs later this year.

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Company executives compared the features present akin to Tesla's offering, but at a far lower price.

The first of these models is set to hit Vietnam in October, with the other two set for commercial release in Europe and North America in 2022, the company's CEO revealed to Forbes.

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