Vietnam's VinFast Has a Plan to Disrupt India's EV Market

VinFast is planning to price premium models competitively, localize car parts, and grow outlets to 27 cities

- Ayaan Kartik

As competition in India's electric vehicles space intensifies, Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup's flagship automaker VinFast has chalked out a three-pronged strategy to take on carmakers like Tata Motors, and Mahindra and Mahindra.

In a bid to win over customers and capture market share in India, VinFast aims to price premium models aggressively, source car parts locally, and grow dealerships to 27 cities.

VinFast has begun its India campaign with the launch of two new electric sports utility vehicles (SUVs), VF6 and VF7. While variants of the VF6 are priced at ₹16.49-18.29 lakh, the more advanced VF7 has prices in the range of ₹20.89 lakh to ₹25.49 lakh.

The price points place its models in direct competition with Indian carmakers Tata Motors, with the Tata Curvv EV and Tata Harrier EV, and M&M, offering the BE6 and XEV 9e in a similar price bracket.

JSW MG Motor, a joint venture between India's JSW and China's SAIC, offers its flagship Windsor EV and ZS EV in a similar price range, while Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor India Ltd markets the Creta Electric.