Chinese electric vehicle makers are looking to Vietnam to soak up excess inventory, according to Nikkei Asia. Not only is Chinese production of electric vehicles vastly outstripping demand in China but recently applied US tariffs have spurred China’s EV producers to look for other markets.
One of the side effects of all of the attention Vietnam’s Vinfast has received is that it has exponentially raised awareness of electric vehicles among Vietnamese consumers. Furthermore, there is a lot of status that goes along with owning a car in Vietnam. That said, Vietnam’s GDP per capita is still only around US$4,000 which makes owning a car of any kind challenging for most Vietnamese. In this context, smaller, cheaper Chinese EVs could find a welcome home south of the border.
For its part, Vinfast is saying that it will still have the upper hand over Chinese EV producers due to its network of charging stations.