PHAM SANH CHAU

MD - CEO AT VINGROUP ASIA OPERATIONS

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At our last meeting, we heard about your India plans. How has the journey in India been till now as we begin the New Year 2026?

We introduced Vinfast to India at the Bharat Mobility Expo a year back, and we have achieved significant milestones in the first year. Our portfolio includes four-wheelers, two-wheelers, a pickup car, and bicycles. Our manufacturing facility was set up in a record 17 months and was completed by August 2025. The very next month, we entered the market with the VF6 and VF7. Within three months, by December, we became the fourth bestselling EV car in India.

Parallel to this, we are also working aggressively for V Green, which is our charging network and are also forming collaborations with the giants in India like TVS and Castrol for an extensive service network of 300 service centres across India. We have set up 35 dealerships across India, which have allowed us to sell 1000 cars in India already, and we are looking forward to a sales figure of 10,000 soon. This also brings me to the point that we have signed a second MOU with the government of Tamil Nadu for the expansion of the Thoothukudi plant.

How much of a production increase are we looking at?

That will allow us to increase from 50,000 cars per year to 1,50,000 cars per year, and we are committed to investing another 4000 crores in addition to the first 4000 crore.

Will it work for domestic supply, or are you looking at exporting the products?

We have the first orders for vehicles from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. And interestingly, we have orders also from North African countries, like Tunisia and Syria, and that is a very positive response. But for the time being, we need to focus on the Indian market, because of the high demand, and we need to increase production in order to be able to satisfy the domestic demand.