Pham Nhat Vuong, the founder of Vingroup, Vietnam's largest private enterprise, was born in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1968, went to the Soviet Union to study in 1988, graduated from university at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, began to borrow money to produce "Mivina" brand instant noodles in 1993, and quickly occupied the Ukrainian market. By 2004, "Mivina" had occupied 97% of the market share in Ukraine. In 2007, it began to shift to the production of fast food and food.
In 2010, Nestlé acquired his food company for $150 million, when he owned two factories in Ukraine with an annual turnover of about $100 million. There are 1900 workers. Beginning in 2000, Pham Ri Wang remitted most of the profits from the sale of instant noodles from Ukraine to Vietnam for investment. After selling the food business, he began to invest in Vietnam. After the establishment of Vingroup Group, it entered the real estate field and established Vincom Real Estate Company to develop high-end residences and complexes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Vincom developed The Tallest Building in Vietnam, Landmark 81
In 2017, VinFast was established in HaiPhong, Vietnam, to produce gasoline cars and motorcycles with a total investment of 3.5 billion US dollars, making it one of the largest industrial projects in Vietnam. In 2021, the company's Fadil gasoline car topped the top of vietnamese automobile sales. On January 6 this year, it announced that it would stop production of gasoline vehicles by the end of the year and switch to pure electric vehicles. It also announced that from January 12, it will implement a 10-year or 200,000-kilometer warranty policy for all gasoline and electric vehicles on sale, sold and will be sold.
Pham Rin Van was recently interviewed by Vietnamese media, and the following is an excerpt:
Media: You just made a "blockbuster" decision to stop producing gasoline cars and focus only on electric cars. Aren't you afraid that your gasoline car users will have concerns?
Fan Riwang: From the very beginning, we have understood that the future is the era of electric vehicles. Now we must make a decisive choice early, instead of playing half oil and half electricity. Of course, we have to find a way to keep our customers from losing money and even benefiting. For gasoline vehicles that are still on sale, if the quality is not reduced and the service is not reduced, the car will not depreciate and customers will no longer have concerns.
— What is the basis for your belief that users will not abandon VinFast, and that your petrol car will not depreciate after you announce your shift to electric?
— One of the reasons for the depreciation of cars is often because manufacturers no longer repair and maintain these cars, no longer keep their past promises, or liquidate them. For VinFast petrol vehicles, we not only stay true to our past commitments, but also add policies and services that are more customer-friendly, such as extending the warranty period to 10 years, which is almost 2-3 times the usual standard, and adding mobile maintenance services. In order to have enough spare parts for maintenance, we also reserve 1.5 times more spare parts than usual. I believe the price of VinFast gasoline cars will rise.
— How long can you afford to lose money with VinFast?
— I expected it to be the start of 5 years. Now that we're halfway through, we'll be profitable if we go as planned for another two years. Our profits in the international market make up for the losses in the Vietnamese home market, which bears the investment costs of building electric vehicle infrastructure. So far, we have 40,000 charging piles, which will increase to 150,000 by the end of 2022. It was also a huge investment, but we decided to do so.
— Vingroup, which started out as a trade services company and has just entered the space, why are you confident that VinFast electric cars will have "Tesla-like quality"?
— When we set out to design the VinFast electric vehicle, we carefully studied all the characteristics of the car, compared it with our competitors, and determined that the design was based on international high standards, so we were confident in the quality and grade of the car.
" Doing it faster" is also one of Vingroup's "know-hows". We recruit talented experts, connect global knowledge systems, and work with dozens of technology companies to reduce time. According to international standards, it takes 27-54 months to build a car, while we only need 18 months. Not because we cut down details or processes, but because we do it faster and more focused.
— What prompted you to "go all in" to develop such an electric car?
— Vietnam must have at least one brand that is recognized by the world. We've tried several areas, but only VinFast, only electric cars have a chance to achieve that goal. It won't be that simple though.
— You once said that Vingroup's goal is not to make a profit, but to set up a banner. Now that you've done it for VinFast, can you share why you're hungry for a business that's better than making money?
— I have lived and been in business abroad for over 22 years, and while I was very successful and respected there, it is still evident that the Vietnamese people in my home country are not respected by the world. Many Vietnamese abroad say they are Japanese or Korean. I want to contribute to changing that. For VinFast, there is anxiety, there is stress, but there is more of a spirit of hard work. We will do our best to raise this "flag" higher and higher.
— As a man, there are already many temptations, but what about a billionaire like you?
— I'm often held hostage by my job, so a lot of things don't matter. Everyone says golf is fun, but I think... Hard. The people who taught me to play golf criticized me for "where you're playing, not paying attention at all". Indeed, my biggest temptation is to work.
Having said all that, just have fun. I like speed. When I was in Ukraine, I loved drag racing, driving a BMW to 240 kilometers when I was 40 years old, and now back in Vietnam, the road conditions are not allowed.
— How to correctly understand Vingroup's current non-profit model in the fields of health care, education and other fields, and the fees for these services are much higher than the average income of the domestic population?
— A nonprofit is not about making shareholders profitable, but about allowing the company to continue to grow, grow, and improve the quality of its services. Non-profit does not mean free or cheap services, but means that all the profits of our company will be given back to society.
Services are expensive, but we believe that the poor can also indirectly benefit from these benefits. For example, the rich who have money to enter Vinmec will free up more doctors and beds, while the poor can get faster and better services. Vinschool (school) is similar.
According to Forbes, as of December 2021, Van RiWang has a wealth of $8.3 billion, ranking 344th among the world's richest people.