At the Bangkok International Motor Show (BIMS) in April this year, Vinfast announced its entry into the Thailand market, and the Vietnamese carmaker – having inked partnership agreements with 15 dealers – was expected to introduce a mix of EV models before the year was out.
This is now looking unlikely to happen. Just five months in, word is that the company is set to pull the plug on its business in the Kingdom. As indicated by Thai website Headlightmag via a post on its Facebook page, it has been rumoured that Vinfast Thailand has stopped all operations and is planning to exit the market because of the ongoing EV price war and its inability to compete from a pricing viewpoint.
As for the various dealers in Thailand, it has been reported that they are currently preparing to file a claim for compensation for damages from this investment. The post adds that following its exit from the Thai market, the brand is set to explore a new ASEAN market, this being the Philippines.
All this comes just a few days after it was reported that VinFast had postponed the opening of its Thailand dealership network, citing a broad slowdown in passenger car sales in the country as the reason for doing so.
According to Bloomberg, the company said via an emailed statement that it would “carefully evaluate” the timing of sales of its EVs in the country. “We have postponed the launch of our dealerships in Thailand to ensure that our infrastructure and operations align with VinFast’s global standards,” it said in the statement.
It sounds like a trying time for the carmaker, which has targeted expansion to at least 50 countries this year. While it set to build a new assembly plant in Indonesia and recently launched the VF5 in the republic, it is holding back on plans elsewhere. Last month, the company said it will delay the opening of its US factory in North Carolina by three years, to 2028, to manage short-term spending “more effectively” and focus resources on near-term growth targets.
Closer to home, the VF e34 and VF5 have been seen undergoing road trials here, but there has been no official word as yet on the brand entering our market.
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