Hyperdrive

Vietnam’s Richest Man Plans Electric Car Factory in the U.S.

  • VinFast to set up showrooms, service centers in California
  • Company has established 50-member San Francisco R&D center

Inside a Vinfast factory in Haiphong, Vietnam. VinFast sold about 30,000 vehicles last year. 

Photographer: Yen Duong/Bloomberg
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Vietnamese electric-vehicle startup VinFast plans to open a U.S. factory after setting up a 50-member San Francisco research office as it prepares for California automobile sales in 2022.

VinFast, founded by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, began delivering gasoline autos to Vietnamese consumers with BMW-licensed engines in 2019. Vuong, who is also chairman of parent company Vingroup JSC, said late that year he would back the company’s U.S. ambitions with $2 billion of his own fortune.