[Aika Car Aika Perspective Original]
"Even Vietnamese cars have hit the U.S. market?" Why haven't Chinese brands done it? ”
This is likely to be the question that every chinese who sees a series of news such as "Vietnamese car brand Vinfast entering the US market", "Vinfast builds a factory in the United States", and "Vinfast intends to go public in the United States" will throw out questions, and even involuntarily rise to the same level as the national football team 1:3 loss to the Vietnamese team, and the Chinese car brand will also mourn its misfortune and anger.
It is not necessary, but if you deeply understand the background of Vinfast, you will know that this car company, which was established only 5 years ago (founded in 2017), and before 2020, it will rely on reverse research and development to launch new products, and it can lay out factories and sales networks to the United States in just a few years, and plan to IPO in the United States.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (left) and VinFast Global CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy signed the plant construction agreement accompanied by Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Nguyen Quoc Dung.
"Blanket star" into a wrist? It is inseparable from the support of the US government
The domestic entertainment industry is accustomed to calling those stars who have no film and television works but are willing to go to overseas film festivals to walk the red carpet and attract attention as "blanket stars". According to the same logic, the first few years after Vinfast's birth were actually similar to the role of "blanket star". At the 2018 Paris Motor Show, Vinfast exhibited two models that claimed to be self-developed, the Lux A2.0 and Lux SA2.0, but were quickly exposed by the media: under the beautiful case designed by Pininfarina, these were essentially two BMWs (A2.0 based on the F10 5 series, SA2.0 based on the F15 X5); the Vinfast President , which was launched in September 2022 and claimed to be Vietnam's "autonomous luxury ceiling", (priced at VND 4.6 billion, About 1.31 million yuan), it is only a luxury flagship version of SA2.0; and the fadil, the best-selling small SUV in Vietnam, is actually a sister version of the Chevrolet Spark (licensed by General Motors)...
In the years since its inception in 2017, Vinfast has not fully developed its own products, and the Vinfast Lux A2.0, which debuted at the Paris Motor Show in 2018, is essentially a BMW 5 Series (F10) draped in a Pininfarina design shell.
The Vinfast Fadil, the highest-selling in Vietnam, is also a Chevrolet Spark licensed by General Motors.
It wasn't until December 27, 2021, that Vinfast's first all-electric production model, the VF e34, was delivered, in other words, until the time of this writing, the automaker's all-electric model has only undergone less than half a year of market validation. What's more interesting is that due to the weak infrastructure construction such as local charging piles in Vietnam, Vinfast's pure electric vehicles are currently selling quite dismal in the Vietnamese domestic market: in the first three months of this year, VinFast sold a total of 6,728 vehicles in the domestic market, but pure electric models accounted for less than 10% of the total, and only 505 were sold.
Until the end of 2021, Vinfast's first pure electric mass production car VF e34 was officially delivered, and the market verification was less than half a year, so it was a miracle that the car manufacturing qualification could quickly obtain the approval of the US government to sell and build factories locally.
With such automobile production qualifications and product competitiveness, it can obtain the approval of the US government so quickly, not only is it expected to start exporting VF8 and VF9 pure electric SUVs to the United States at the end of the year, but also will build a factory in North Carolina in 2024 and sell it to consumers throughout the United States. I really don't know whether to praise Vinfast's "Vietnamese speed" or the efficiency of the US government.
The limited size of Vietnam's auto market and the dismal sales of all-electric models (Vinfast sold 505 pure electric models in Vietnam in the first three quarters) also prompted Vinfast to expand overseas.
What's more exaggerated is that in addition to the above mentioned Vinfast plans to raise $2 billion in the US IPO, the Vietnamese car company is also applying for a loan from the Advanced Technology Automobile Manufacturing (AVTM) loan program managed by the US Department of Energy (which currently has about $18 billion remaining), which is also understood to be interested in approving the loan application.
BYD has built a factory in California to produce electric buses, providing more than a thousand jobs in the region, when it is still excluded from the list of energy subsidies.
On the other hand, the treatment of Chinese car companies is very different from Vinfast. Even if it is an authentic American brand, because it is "Made in China", Buick's models exported to the United States can not get tariff relief (tariffs as high as 27.5%), while Hyundai and Kia models made by neighboring South Korea can enjoy zero tariff treatment. This also forced Geely to cooperate with Renault to use the French automaker's factory in South Korea to produce Lynk & Co models and export them from the local area to the United States, in order to enjoy zero tariff treatment and improve the competitiveness of the product market.
The picture shows BYD's Lancaster plant in California.
Another example is BYD, although it has built a factory in the United States (Lancaster, California) to produce electric buses, provide thousands of local jobs, use more than 70% of the raw materials produced in the United States, it can be said that it is fully in line with the so-called "let manufacturing return to the United States" slogan shouted by the US government, but it is excluded from the list of new energy subsidies for no reason. Who would believe such a double-standard approach without political considerations?
"Blanket star" into a wrist? It is inseparable from the support of the US government
Chaebol Training Handbook Vietnamese Edition
Vinfast's "adventure" in the United States is eye-popping enough, but if compared to the new car company's popularity in Vietnam, it is definitely a small witch.
The founder of VinGroup, Pham Nhat Vuong, the richest man in Vietnam, came from a Vietnamese military background and went to Ukraine to study at a young age, earning his first pot of gold for starting a local food processing factory.
Behind Vinfast is VinGroup, now known as "Samsung Vietnam", Vietnam's largest private group, whose founder, Vietnam's richest man, Pham Nhat Vuong, is from a Vietnamese military background and whose father served in the Vietnamese Air Force. Pham Nhat Vuong went to Ukraine to study as a young man and earned his first pot of gold by starting a food processing business there. After returning to China, he began to engage in vietnam's real estate industry, and then gradually grew by virtue of the rapid development of Vietnam's economy, and has now been involved in Vietnam's real estate, industrial manufacturing, tourism, science and technology, telecommunications and many other fields.
Vingroup is currently the largest private sector enterprise in Vietnam, with a market capitalization of about US$21 billion, involving real estate, industrial manufacturing, tourism, telecommunications, automobile manufacturing, retail and other industries.
The rapid development of VinGroup is inseparable from the support of the Vietnamese government, whether it is the process of Vinhome, a subsidiary of VinGroup, obtaining land project concessions in many places in Vietnam, or the unified silence of the Vietnamese media in many fire accidents. In the past two years, with the gradual rise of Vinfast in vietnam's automotive industry, senior government officials, including Vietnam's national president Nguyen Xuan Phuc, have spared no effort to cheer for its platform. Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited the Vinfast plant several times during his tenure as Prime Minister of Vietnam and President of the State of Vietnam, and also test-ridden the President model driven by Pham Nhat Vuong.
Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the current Chairman of the Vietnamese State Of Vietnam, has inspected the Vinfast factory several times and is the Vinfast station.
Pictured is Nguyen Phuc Hun riding a President model driven by Pham Nhat Vuong.
Almost at the same time that Vinfast delivered the first electric vehicles at the end of 2021, the Vietnamese government also introduced a subsidy policy and tax relief policy for electric vehicles, which can basically be said to be tailor-made for Vinfast.
At the same time that Vinfast delivered the first all-electric models, Vietnam introduced a subsidy policy and tax relief policy for electric vehicles, which is equivalent to injecting a shot of peace of mind into Vinfast, which plans to stop production of fuel vehicles by the end of 2022.
Although the guiding policy of new energy subsidies can be regarded as the mainland's "playing the rest", it is necessary to know that our subsidies are fair to market participants who meet the subsidy standards, including wholly foreign-owned, joint ventures and independent manufacturers. At present, there are only a few domestic new energy model manufacturers in Vietnam (in addition to Vinfast, there are also some Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi), and the timing of the promulgation of the subsidy policy also makes its tendency too obvious. In fact, some Vietnamese scholars have compared the current Vietnamese government's support for the Vingroup Group with the strong support given by South Korean President Park Chung-hee to South Korean chaebols such as Samsung and Hyundai in the 1960s and 1970s.
Unlike China's new energy subsidies, which are fair and "rain and dew are evenly dipped", Vietnam's subsidies and tax relief policies are quite obvious, and at present, domestic new energy manufacturers have only some Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi in addition to Vinfast.
Conclusion: The stronger you are, the more you will provoke the suspicion and targeting of competitors. Whether it is BYD, which has entered the US market, or Lynk & Co and Weilai, which are interested in opening up the US market, auto brands from China want to gain a foothold in the world's second largest auto market, in addition to facing normal market competition, they need to be careful about various hostile policies and "off-board moves". Of course, Chinese car companies do not need to refer to the comparison, or even envy of Vinfast's "preferential treatment" that does not conform to the laws of the market, after all, "the iron also needs to be hard", as long as the product is stronger, so that more and more "Made in China" gallop on the vast land on the other side of the ocean is not a fool's dream.
Highlights review:
Followers of the "overtaking in curves" strategy (Part 1)
As always, the high level of testing of the new BYD Tang EV
Increased by 2000-4000 yuan Lynk & Co new energy models to adjust the price
Chaebol Training Handbook Vietnamese Edition