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New Delhi: VinFast India is adopting a ‘bottom-up’ growth strategy by focusing on strengthening product fundamentals, service reach and localisation, while tapping emerging demand in tier 2 and tier 3 cities before it chases aggressive volume targets, the company’s top executive told ETAuto.
The Vietnam-based company has seen a strong start in India, with over 2,300 units sold within nine months of its entry.
“We want to have a bottoms-up approach… We would like to have the fundamentals good. What I mean to say is that good products, price, quality, customer service, network service, vendor development, all those things and volume will follow,” CEO Tapan Ghosh said during the sidelines of its first MPV, VF MPV 7 launch in Delhi.
The electric vehicle manufacturer is focusing on ensuring a strong ownership ecosystem and adapting the supply chain and production to demand, rather than committing to rigid sales or plant utilisation timelines.
On the retail front and network expansion, the automaker is eyeing tier 2 and tier 3 cities along with metro areas and enhancing aftersales support as part of its long-term plan. This is driven by rising EV adoption in such cities due to the availability of home charging and shorter commuting patterns. “It is like top-down… metros are a very good market, tier 1, but we are finding latent demand in tier 3, tier 2 cities also,” Ghosh said, adding that currently metros and tier 1 cities remain the biggest contributors.
VinFast currently has around 50 showrooms and aims to reach 75 by the end of this year. It is also targeting over 230 service workshops, including dealer workshops and third-party tie-ups, to support customers in smaller towns.
To provide a holistic ecosystem, its group (Vin Group)-backed charging company V-Green has already established around 300 charging stations in India and is working with HPCL to evaluate deployment across 10,000 fuel stations.
The company has also announced an investment of up to $2 billion in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu where it has its manufacturing base with an annual capacity of 50,000 vehicles.
VinFast Limo Green Future product roadmap
The management also reiterated its plans to enter the two-wheeler EV market in the second half of this year, with scooters likely to be the initial focus, and separate dealer network and showroom infrastructure planned for the segment. “We are not going to be just at the lowest price point… initially we like to have premium offerings at a reasonable price,” Ghosh said.
The company which offers a bouquet of products across segments in its home country, Vietnam, has Viper, Feliz, Feliz II, Vero X and more in its scooter portfolio.
The company which currently has 15 per cent localisation, plans to enhance it with improved scale. It will follow the CKD (Completely Knocked Down) pattern for its upcoming two-wheeler launches too, Ghosh added.
The automaker will also soon launch its commercial electric offering, Limo Green, which will be priced below the MPV 7 dedicated for fleet operators. The management said it has already sent the vehicles to dealers and will announce the price soon. Limo Green will be built on the same platform as the MPV 7.
“Limo Green has already been dispatched to dealers, and today we have launched MPV7. In a few weeks’ time, our dealers will start retailing to fleet operators the Limo Green,” Ghosh said.
The company also hinted that the additional two passenger vehicle launches could be at the end of Q3 or the beginning of Q4, with SUVs expected to remain a major focus. “Maybe beginning next year or late this year,” the executive said.
The company currently offers three products in India: the VF6 and VF7 electric SUVs, and the newly introduced MPV7 for personal buyers. All these models are priced between ₹17 lakh and ₹28 lakh.
